Offside review burns Bruins again in loss to Capitals

WASHINGTON D.C. — The Bruins are on a losing streak.

For the first time all season, the Bruins have lost three games in a row. It wasn’t the first time, however, they were burnt by an offsides review and went on to lose, as the Bruins had a 2-0 lead washed off the board in the first period and went on to fall to the Capitals, 3-2.

Washington has defeated the Bruins 16 of the last 17 times they’ve faced off, including in November when the Bruins blew a late lead and went on to lose in the shootout.

Already ahead 1-0 in the second, Patrice Bergeron scored on a power play to end an 0-for-14 streak, but it was called back on an offside review; it was similar to when the Bruins lost to Colorado early in the season when they led only to have two other goals called back, and they went on to lose that game as well.

Things started off well for the Bruins. With Alex Ovechkin trailing him by four goals, David Pastrnak widened the gap to put the Bruins ahead. The NHL’s leading goal scorer took a feed from Charlie McAvoy and beat Braden Holtby in tight for a 1-0 lead 9:36 into the first frame.

It would have been 2-0 on a Bergeron power play goal, but the Bruins saw yet another tally taken off the board via review. With 15:15 gone in the first, Bergeron — in his second game back from a lower body injury that sidelined him for seven games — buried a rebound but the Capitals challenged, and officials ruled Jake DeBrusk had been offside 20 seconds before.

It turned out, that gave the Capitals room to tie things up early in the second.

Following the Bruins third consecutive failed power play of the night, the Capitals went to the man advantage, T.J. Oshie went backhand to forehand and hit the crossbar, then snagged his own rebound behind Halak with 15:25 left in the second to make it 1-1.

Oshie deked Connor Clifton out of his skates 3:26 later to give Washington its first lead. Oshie slid the puck through Clifton and back to himself in a goal that’s sure to be on highlight tapes the rest of the season, and the Capitals went ahead 2-1.

The Bruins power play continued to struggle generating chances but ended the second period outshooting the Capitals 23-14.

Torey Krug flipped the puck from the corner 2:53 into the third and Sean Kuraly tipped in his third tally of the year to tie the game at 2-2, but it didn’t last long.

Norris favorite John Carlson blasted in his 12th goal of the year from the left circle less than two minutes later to put Washington back ahead 3-2.

The Bruins got their fifth power play chance of the game in the third period, but, already two for their last 21 chances entering the game, they failed to get looks on net yet again.

The Bruins continue their three-game road trip in Tampa Bay on Thursday night before heading to Sunrise to face the Panthers on Saturday.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2LMMqif