Bruins take control of series with 4-1 win over Capitals

The Bruins showed up for work on time, put in a full hardhat shift and, for the first time in this East Division playoff series, they finished on time.

In a game in which they were unquestionably the better team throughout the contest, the B’s jumped out to a 3-0 lead early in the third period and eventually won 4-1, staking them to a 3-1 series lead with a chance to end the series in Washington on Sunday.

If not for rookie goalie Ilya Samsonov, this one could have gotten out of hand much earlier, but the B’s needed a pair of goals in the first 1:03 of the third to finally create some breathing space.

The B’s got goals from Brad Marchand, David Pastrnak, Charlie Coyle and Matt Grzelcyk to secure the win.

After the Bruins took two penalties in the first 5:41 — and killed them off without a problem — they started to tilt the ice in what would be another scoreless first period.

If Samsonov was at all haunted by his double overtime gaffe from Game 3, he did a good job of hiding it. He was the chief reason the Caps escaped the first period unscathed as the B’s outshot Washington 11-4 and had some genuine quality chances in that bunch.

Samsonov’s best sequence came when Marchand set up Pastrnak for a wide open shot from the slot. Samsonov stopped Pastrnak’s original shot and then turned away the aerial rebound that was batted by Patrice Bergeron.

The rookie was good enough for the gods to give him some luck, too. In the waning seconds of the period on a late power play, Charlie Coyle rung the post to Samsonov’s right.

The B’s continued to have dominate in the second period and finally pushed ahead with a power-play goal, but it may have come at big price.

Kevan Miller led a rush up the middle of the ice and, after dishing to his left, Dmitry Orlov delivered a high, late hit that knocked Miller to the ice and he was clearly woozy.

After an understandable fracas ensued, the refs called a major on Orlov that they immediately reviewed. After a long look-see, it was decided to downgrade the call to a double minor, half of which was wiped out by a roughing penalty to Coyle drawn in the contentious aftermath of the hit.

Miller needed to be attended to on the ice before heading to the locker room and he did not return.

But on the Orlov minor, the B’s finally cashed in at 8:00. Operating on his strong side, Pastrnak fired from the right circle that Marchand deflected past Samsonov for the hard-earned 1-0 lead.

The B’s had numerous glittering chances to extend the lead. Just after a Garnet Hathaway penalty expired, Pastrnak had a chance to lift a loose puck into a half empty net. He either heeled it wide or Hathaway just got a piece of it to send it to the glass.

Then late in the period, Jake DeBrusk made a nice play to set up Connor Clifton but Clifton’s one-time chance from a few feet out went over the net.

On the ensuing backcheck, DeBrusk was called for a slash and that gave the Caps their first extended time in the Boston zone. The B’s were able to kill that off, but then faced another tough situation when Bergeron shot the puck over the glass with with 2:17 left in the period.

Again, the B’s held the Caps off and, just as Bergeron was skating back into the play, Anthony Mantha cross-checked Charlie McAvoy from behind for an interference penalty with 15 seconds left in the period.

The B’s headed into the third with a one-goal lead and a 23-13 shot advantage.

But at the start of the third the B’s secured the series first two goal lead, and 34 seconds later the first three-goal lead.

With Mantha still in the box, Pastrnak needed no deflection to beat Samsonov with a sharp wrister to the far post just 39 seconds into the period.

Then at 1:03, they made it 3-0. Coyle sent DeBrusk alone on a breakaway and the winger skied his shot off the glass. It took a fortuitous bounce for Coyle, who backhanded it past Samsonov for the 3-0 lead.

In the immediate aftermath of the goal, Nick Ritchie and Tom Wilson got into a dust-up, with the end result being the Caps got another power play.

They didn’t cash in on that one, but they did after Marchand was called for a questionable interference call when he was battling for inside position on John Carlson. At 4:54, Alexander Ovechkin shot a puck that went off Brandon Carlo’s stick and past Tuukka Rask.

But the B’s got their three-goal lead back with 5:10 left on another power-play. With Mantha again in the box for running over Rask, Grzelcyk sniped a shot over Samsonov’s shoulder to make it 4-1.

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