Capitals edged by Bruins in 1st game since Carlson trade

BOSTON -- Viktor Arvidsson broke a tie at 4:28 of the third period for the Boston Bruins in a 3-1 win against the Washington Capitals, who were playing their first game since trading John Carlson, at TD Garden on Saturday.

The 36-year-old defenseman, who had spent his entire career with the Capitals after being selected by Washington in the first round (No. 27) of the 2008 NHL Draft, was dealt to the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday for a conditional first-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft and a third-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft. Carlson is the franchise’s all-time leader among defensemen in goals (166), assists (605), points (771), power-play points (273) and games played (1,143).

"I'm not going to sugarcoat it -- the last two days have been extremely rough on the group. To say I saw positivity and energy would be a lie,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said. “Now, I also have a lot of confidence in the leadership group that's still here and the rest of our group of understanding we have a job to do, and we are still in this fight.

“Yeah, we lost two great people (including Nic Dowd), two great players, two big parts of our team, but we also have a lot of really good players on this roster that can absolutely win hockey games in the National Hockey League.”

Pavel Zacha and Elias Lindholm also scored for the Bruins (35-22-5), who had lost four of six (2-2-2) but extended their home winning streak to 12 games. David Pastrnak had two assists, and Jeremy Swayman made 22 saves.

“It’s a great locker room to be a part of and it’s an important time of year and we’re rallying around that,” Swayman said. “We’ve been staying in games the entire year and we’re getting the results. In close games like this it’s rewarding, and at the same time, motivating. It’s fun to be a part of.”

It’s Boston’s longest home winning streak since recording a 14-game run during the 2022-23 season.

“It’s an advantage for us,” Zacha said of playing on home ice. “We play really good at home, and it’s something we need to keep doing. Now, on the road (Sunday in Pittsburgh), it’s a quick turnaround and it’s something we’ve struggled with this season, and we need to start winning those games to get in.”

Aliaksei Protas scored the lone goal for the Capitals (31-26-7), who have lost three in a row (0-3-0) after winning six of seven. Logan Thompson made 27 saves.

“He plays so good for us every night and gives us a chance to win, and that’s all you can ask for,” Tom Wilson said. “It [stinks] to waste one of those performances when you can’t get it done at the other end of the rink. He shows up every night for us and gives us a chance, and he played phenomenal tonight. We’re going to need more of that down the stretch and we’re going to have to put some pucks in the net.”

During a scoreless first period, Swayman made seven saves, and Thompson stopped nine shots.

Zacha’s power-play goal gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead at 4:07 of the second period. He entered the zone with speed and found Pastrnak along the boards before he moved it to Charlie McAvoy, who slipped it to Zacha in front. His initial shot was stopped by Thompson, but Zacha swatted the rebound out of the air and put it under the crossbar for the goal.

“I hit it with the shaft, anything I can do to score there,” Zacha said. “It was a great play by (McAvoy) and it surprised me a little bit, too, so I just tried to shoot it and I saw the rebound in the air. It was a reflection, but it was a great play.”

Protas tied it 1-1 at 7:21. Jakob Chychrun controlled the puck around the perimeter for 12 seconds, eluding the defense and making a move before crashing the net, but Swayman made a blocker save. However, the rebound fell onto the stick of Protas, who knocked it in from the top of the crease.

“Just trying to create,” Chychrun said. “I know if I can make a move on my guy, and I knew he was pretty tired and just tried to create, and [Protas] got to a really good area and capitalized. It was a big goal for us at the time.”

Arvidsson’s goal early in the third put Boston back ahead 2-1. The Bruins utilized the middle of the ice when Hampus Lindholm connected with Casey Mittelstadt, who quickly made a tape-to-tape pass to Arvidsson at the blue line. He broke in alone and beat Thompson low-blocker side for his 18th goal of the season.

“Amazing,” Pastrnak said of Arvidsson’s contributions this season. “He’s been playing great and that second line (along with Zacha and Mittelstadt) is pretty much the only line that has been together for the whole season. They’ve had chemistry since the beginning of the year and there are nights they win the game for us, and he’s having a great year. Hopefully he’ll keep going and he’s scored some big goals, and that’s a credit to him.”

Lindholm added an empty-net goal with 24 seconds remaining for the 3-1 final.

“The effort’s there,” Thompson said. “The one thing us as players can control is our work ethic, so down the stretch we need to keep working hard, find ways to get better every game, every practice and hopefully we start to get some better results.”

NOTES: Chychrun collected an assist on Protas’ goal to reach 50 points (22 goals, 28 assists in 62 games) for the first time in his NHL career and become the second Capitals player to reach the 50-point mark in 62 games or fewer in the past 15 years, joining Carlson (40 games in 2019-20; 57 in 2018-19; 58 in 2021-22). … Pastrnak recorded his 103rd career multi-assist game, tying Brad Marchand for eighth most in Bruins history.