Bruins oust Capitals with 3-1 victory

With a chance to end the Washington Capitals’ season, the Bruins turned to two of their longest tenured players to get it done.

Patrice Bergeron scored a pair of goals, including the game-winner, and Tuukka Rask made 40 saves to lift the B’s to a 3-1 win, their fourth straight win over the Caps to capture the best-of-seven series 4-1.

The B’s took a 2-0 lead into the third, but the Capitals got exactly what they wanted in their comeback attempt, scoring just 11 seconds into the period. Allowed an easy entry into the Boston zone, Conor Sheary was able to score off his own rebound and the battle was on.

But with 7:35 left in regulation, the captain gave the B’s their two-goal lead again. Bergeron picked off a T.J. Oshie backhand pass in the Washington zone and beat Ilya Samsonov with a snap shot to make it 3-1.

Mike Reilly, however was soon called for cross-checking, and the Caps appeared to have gotten back to within a goal on the power play. But Lars Eller’s goal from down low with 5:37 left in regulation was waved off for goalie interference on Evgeny Kuznetsov.

The B’s killed it off, then when the Caps took a penalty it was all over.

Next up is Pittsburgh or the Islanders, who are tied 2-2 in their series and meet in Pittsburgh Monday night.

For the third straight game, the B’s and Caps battled to a scoreless tie in the opening 20 minutes, but there were some chances on both sides.

The B’s had the better ones early on. The first one came when Sean Kuraly deflected a Curtis Lazar shot through Samsonov’s pads from the side of the net. The puck skittered through the crease parallel and inches from the goal line but slid out the other side of the crease.

On a power play, Nick Ritchie had a couple of good chances, and Samsonov came up with a strong glove save from a slot shot. Samsonov also turned away a Chris Wagner chance on a 2-on-1 with Jake DeBrusk.

Rask was a little busier than he had been in the one-sided Game 4 in the early going on Sunday. His best save came when Eller set up Sheary for a one-timer just below the right circle.

The B’s took three penalties in the first period, one of which was a phantom call. Brad Marchand, who was called for a bogus interference on John Carlson in Game 4, was called for a roughing penalty on Carlson on a routine puck battle play.

The B’s killed off that one, but started the second period back on the kill after Craig Smith was called for tripping with 29 seconds left in the first.

Shortly after the B’s killed off the Smith penalty, going 3-for-3 on the PK, they grabbed the lead at 2:28 on a spectacular move by David Pastrnak.

Pastrnak took a short pass from Mike Reilly on his off wing, faked out Nic Dowd with a between-the-legs move and then defenseman Nick Jensen gave Pastrnak a clear path to the net. Without being touched, Pastrnak took the puck across the top of the crease and stuffed it past Samsonov inside the far post.

The B’s then had a great chance to grab the game by the throat when Daniel Sprong held Jarred Tinordi in the offensive zone at 3:48.

But the Caps, sensing their season was slipping away, came up with a strong kill and gained some momentum from it.

At one point, the Caps were outshooting the B’s, 14-2, but Rask stayed strong in net, fighting through screens and finding the puck to make the saves.

Then, at 14:05, the B’s extended their lead over the arm-weary Caps. Reilly picked up a loose puck that squirted from a pileup at the blue line between Pastrnak and Oshie and dished it over to Bergeron in the middle of ice. After gaining the blue line, Bergeron beat Samsonov with a hard wrister to the blocker side from the high slot.

The Caps went right back to throwing rubber at Rask. They outshot the B’s 20-4 in the second, but Rask turned away all 20 of them.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3u8XPw8