Both teams shared a laugh 7 seconds into the game when Alex Ovechkin launched a puck into the Bruins bench which had new head coach Marco Sturm ducking for his life. David Pastrnak took the first Bruins penalty of the season less than two minutes into the game when he and Tom Wilson pretty much hooked each other but Tom got the hometown call. Ovechkin fed Wilson in front on the power-play but Swayman snuffed it out. Jakob Chycrun had a wide open look but Swayman stopped that one too. The Bruins killed it off but disaster almost struck with 5:10 gone. Hampus Lindholm skated into the crease and tried to clear the puck, but whiffed on it and it damn near squirted past Swayman. Nic Dowd poked at it but Swayman had it covered. Trevor van Riemsdyk snatched up Mark Kastelic for an interference call 6:46 into the period to put the Bruins on their first powerplay. Pastrnak fed a wide open Geekie for a one timer but Logan Thompson sent it away. Casey Mittelstadt almost put it in off a skate but Thompson stoned it. The power play ended with nothing else happening. Halfway through the first period Anthony Beauvillier put one on net but it was stick saved by Swayman. Tanner Jeannot drilled Anthony for that treachery. The returning Sean Kuraly put one on Thompson but it was saved. Viktor Arvidsson put it on net with 7 minutes left but Thompson deflected it. Charlie McAvoy dropped Brandon Duhaime but Kuraly was whistled for interference on Nic Dowd with 6:54 remaining in the period. Jeannot nearly had a breakaway goal on the penalty kill but Thompson saved it. The Caps got just one redirect on that power play and the Bruins killed it off. With 4:30 left Elias Lindholm had a wide open one timer but passed it to Geekie who was stoned by Thompson. One pass too many there. With 2 minutes left the legendary Ovechkin was robbed by Swayman before being decked by McAvoy. Pastrnak was set up by Geekie in the slot but the shot went over everything with just over a minute left in the period. Henri Jokiharju cross-checked Duhaine from behind with 46 seconds left to put the Capitals on the power play again. The Capitals failed to score and the Bruins ended the period tied with no score.
The second period began with the Bruins on the penalty kill and just 19 seconds into it, McAvoy was whistled for tripping to give the Capitals a 5 on 3 for a full minute. Somehow the Caps failed to score and Jokiharju made a mad dash out of the box as Swayman stopped Wilson cold. The Bruins managed to kill it off to go to 4-0 on the PK. The Caps still had a 12-4 shot advantage 5 minutes into the second period when Thompson robbed Kastelic of a backhand shot. Swayman robbed Nic Dowd of a wide open breakaway with 13:33 but Arvidsson was also robbed of a breakaway by Thompson. Wilson cleaned out Mason Lohrei on a big hit but Mason shook it off. The Bruins finally hit paydirt with 8 minutes left in the second. Nikita Zadorov passed it to Pastrnak who fired at the net....SCORE! Hampus Lindholm parked his carcass in front of Thompson for the screen to allow Pasta's shot to go in for the first goal of the season. 35 seconds later Kastelic was called for tripping to put Washington on the power play again. The Bruins managed to kill it off and Swayman stopped two big shots. The Bruins defense kept Washington at bay and the period ended with Boston ahead 1-0.
The Capitals had 28 shots and five powerplays with 13 minutes left in the game but no goals to show for it. That changed when Jakob Chychrun found Tom Wilson in the slot, who went top self to tie the game. The Bruins caught a break when John Carlson was called for holding a few seconds after the faceoff. Just 38 seconds after the Caps scored, Elias Lindholm said "Wait, you actually thought you were going to keep the game tied? Hahaha sit down son." Pastrnak streaked toward the goal to draw in defenders, then slipped the puck to Lindholm for the power play goal to put the Bruins back on top. The Bruins defense stopped every attempt after that to get into the zone and got another chance with 6:53 left. Marat Khusnutdinov streaked in alone but Thompson stopped the shot. With five minutes left the Capitals started playing "dump & chase" and the Bruins kept beating them to the puck. With 3 minutes left, Wilson knocked Hampus Lindholm's helmet off for some old time hockey. With the goalie pulled, the Caps swarmed the Bruins net but with a minute left, Elias Lindholm won the faceoff. Pastrnak ended up with it and passed to Morgan Geekie for the wide open empty net goal to ice it. The Capitals failed to score again and the Bruins had won the game 3-1.
End Rant:
The Bruins aren't going to win too many games this season unless they play nearly flawless defense like they did in this one. They essentially had to grind out 2 goals but the good news is Swayman looked like himself. Having a full training camp with McAvoy and Lindholm healthy definitely made a difference. The Bruins might have to play like those brutal New Jersey Devils teams that tried to win every game 1-0 or 2-1. It won't be pretty, but if it works, a win is a win. Pastrnak scored or assisted all three goals and he's going to have to turn into a superman if the Bruins want to make the playoffs. Still, that was a good effort all around and going 5-0 on the penalty kill was impressive. Hats off to Elias Lindholm for getting the go-ahead goal. This isn't the 2018 Capitals but a win is a win. The Bruins come home tomorrow night for their home opener against Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks. The game begins at 7:00 PM at TD Garden.
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