"The first thing is we wanted to be more physical, more assertive than in the past against the [Capitals], at least in my experience here," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. "… Against a team that was sitting here waiting for us and we played the night before, might have been a tall task. But that's how I feel we had to play against Washington. There's been too much of chasing the game. As it turned out we ended up doing that again."
The Capitals thought they had scored the first goal 2:16 into the first period when Lars Eller put in a rebound of his own shot, but the call was overturned on a challenge by Cassidy when it was ruled Washington's Brett Connolly was offside.
Vrana gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead with 2:26 remaining in the period. He took Matt Niskanen's pass at the Washington blue line, skated wide to the right and then made a move to the inside around Bruins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk before beating Khudobin high to the stick side.
Bergeron tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal 4:22 into the second period.
Backstrom put the Capitals back ahead 2-1 with a power-play goal at 12:05 of the second when he tipped Evgeny Kuznetsov's shot past Khudobin.
Chiasson made it 3-1 with a goal from the top of the Boston crease at 7:52 of the third period. He then scored on a shorthanded breakaway at 11:31 for a 4-1 lead.
