Bruins win Game 5, eliminate Capitals in first round

WASHINGTON -- Patrice Bergeron scored two goals, and the Boston Bruins eliminated the Washington Capitals with a 3-1 win in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup First Round at Capital One Arena on Sunday.

Tuukka Rask made 40 saves, and David Pastrnak had a goal and an assist for the Bruins, the No. 3 seed in the MassMutual East Division. Boston, which won four in row after losing Game 1, will play the winner of the first-round series between the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Islanders; the best-of-7 series is tied 2-2.
"Let's face it, our top guys came through tonight and our soldiers were good," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said.

Conor Sheary scored for the Capitals, the No. 2 seed. Ilya Samsonov made 16 saves in his third straight start.
Washington has been eliminated in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in three consecutive seasons since winning the Cup in 2018.
"I thought tonight we had a very good game, we just didn't score goals," Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin said. "Obviously, you can see how many shots we have, how many chances. Rask played very good and they use their chances.
"But overall, I think it was a good series. It was an interesting series to play. It's tough for us. It's hard."
Pastrnak gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead at 2:28 of the second period when he played the puck between his legs to elude Capitals center Nic Dowd in the left face-off circle, then cut to the front of the net and tucked the puck past Samsonov.
"I was definitely surprised because as soon as I kind of got it on my backhand, I was looking for [David Krejci] or [Taylor Hall], and then I just saw a kind of free lane to take it to the net," Pastrnak said. "Tried it and it worked this time."
Bergeron scored with a wrist shot from the high slot to make it 2-0 at 14:05.
Washington outshot Boston 20-4 in the second period but did not score.
"There were some really good chances in the second period, shots were heavy, the zone time, the volume, everything was good and you walk away and you are down 2-0, and so that is a little bit frustrating," Capitals coach Peter Laviolette said. "That is kind of the way the series went. There were times when I thought we were good and we weren't able to capitalize and weren't able to produce, and at the end of the day you need to be able to produce and you have to put goals on the board."
Sheary cut it to 2-1 when he scored on his own rebound 11 seconds into the third period.

Bergeron made it 3-1 at 12:25 when he intercepted T.J. Oshie's pass and scored on a wrist shot from the left circle.
"He's been one of our many leaders for years now," Rask said. "Now he has the captain's letter on his chest, but
(22 points) for second in Bruins history. Krejci leads with 28 points (eight goals, 20 assists). … Boston defenseman Mike Reilly had two assists and was plus-3. … Ovechkin (two goals, two assists) and Oshie (one goal, three assists) led the Capitals with four points each in the series.