Bruins outlast Capitals, 3-1

Steve Conroy, Boston Herald on Mar 7, 2026

Published in Hockey

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

BOSTON — Nothing will be easy for the Boston Bruins as they attempt to nail down a playoff spot down the stretch. Fortunately for them, they brought their work boots with them on Saturday.

The B’s scored two goals in the third period to grind out a tough 3-1 victory over the Washington Capitals on Saturday at TD Garden, their 12th straight victory on Garden ice.

The B’s broke a 1-1 deadlock at 4:28 of the third period. Washington’s Aleksei Protas could handle a Tom Wilson pass just inside the Boston blue line and Hampus Lindholm quickly moved it up the ice. Casey Mittelstadt made a beautiful backhand relay pass to spring Viktor Arvidsson for a breakaway. Arvidsson, who some thought could have been trade bait because of pending UFA status, picked his spot and beat Logan Thompson for his 18th of the year.

Thompson kept the Caps in it with a couple of good saves after that, the best being on a partial break-in by Arvidsson, whose backhander could not find its way through the five-hole.

The game remained tense until David Pastrnak fed Elias Lindholm for an empty-net goal with 23.2 seconds left to seal the two points.

Before the game, Caps coach Spender Carbery said the past few days had been “rough” on his team. Earlier in the week they dealt away third liner Nic Dowd and, in the wee hours of trade deadline, management stunned the hockey world when they sent Caps’ top defenseman of the last generation, John Carlson, to Anaheim. It very well could have been Alex Ovechkin’s last game at the Garden as well.

When the puck was dropped on Saturday, it appeared as though the players were making a conscious effort to shake it off. They played the B’s hard in a back-and-forth but scoreless first. The B’s held a 9-7 shot advantage, getting two power plays to the Caps’ one.

Jeremy Swayman made his best save of the day when he went post-to-post to stop a Tom Wilson short-handed bid.

The B’s broke the ice at 4:07 of the second. After they killed off their second penalty of the game, the B’s cashed in on their third chance. After Wilson’s short-handed rush was stopped deep in the Boston zone, the B’s went on the attack. Off the rush, Charlie McAvoy sifted a pretty pass down low to Pavel Zacha. Logan Thompson stopped Zacha’s first shot but the rebound popped it in the air and Zacha bunted it home for his 16th goal of the season.

But the Caps evened it up on a great individual play by Jakob Chychrun. He dangled back and forth on the blue with Alex Steeves trying to defend him. He went from the left point to the right wing, where he made a nice move to get past Steeves and head tot he net. In close, he dished it over to Aleksei Protas for the equalizer.

____