Zdeno Chara returned to TD Garden as a visitor for the first time in 15 years, and it was his Capitals who came away with a 2-1 shootout win.
After a slow start to the game, the Bruins were forced to wake up during a physical affair with Washington, setting up a highly anticipated rematch on Friday night. Tuukka Rask made 27 saves, including five in overtime, but the Bruins weren't able to generate enough offense to get him the win.
Here are three key takeaways from the Bruins’ shootout loss to the Capitals.
1. Unacceptable first period
Following three days off since their latest win, energy and effort shouldn’t have been an issue for the Bruins — and unfortunately, it was.
The Bruins played as poor a period as they have all season and it’s amazing that the game was scoreless after the first frame. Not even a disallowed goal in favor of the Bruins was enough to wake them up.
The black and gold were sloppy with the puck, indicated by their five giveaways, and lazy in the skating game as their forechecking and backchecking efforts were non-existent.
There were far too many passengers, especially against a team as strong and skilled as Washington.
A weak, non-threatening shot from Jake DeBrusk at the 15:27 mark of the period was the first of the game for the Bruins. Simply unacceptable.
Washington’s physicality eventually forced engagement from the Bruins — energy forward Garnet Hathaway finished a clean, hard hit on Charlie McAvoy in the winding minutes of the frame that finally got the attention of the Bruins bench. In response, newcomer Jarred Tinordi and Chris Wagner finished Carl Hagelin hard to the ice, and McAvoy got revenge on Hathaway with a solid check of his own.
The temperature at ice level quickly began to heat up and set the stage for a more competitive final two periods.
2. Pastrnak stays hot
Though the second period was a much stronger and complete effort for the Bruins, they were still only to accumulate just nine shots on goal heading into the third period.
Fortunately for the Bruins, David Pastrnak was able to capitalize on the team’s 10th shot of the game for a 1-0 lead.
After winning a puck battle in the defensive zone against John Carlson, Brad Marchand skated down the left wing boards on a two-on-one and slid a perfect pass over to Pastrnak who buried his 10th goal of the season.
In seven fewer games played, Pastrnak is now tied with Marchand for the team lead in goals.
The lead wouldn’t last, however, as Lars Eller would take advantage of a Sean Kuraly turnover (of which there were a couple) to tie the game 1-1.
3. Rask helps Bruins salvage a point
If not for an outstanding performance from Tuukka Rask (27 saves on 28 shots), the Capitals would have easily skated away with a regulation win — instead, the Bruins were able to earn at least one point in a losing effort Wednesday night in Boston.
The Bruins were outshot 28-19 on home ice and at times were utterly dominated and outworked by Washington, who came to play from the opening faceoff.
Rask was particularly strong in the first period and in overtime, when he made a number of point-blank saves, including a few off the stick of Alexander Ovechkin.
Unfortunately for Rask, his teammates were unable to reward his efforts as the Bruins didn’t manage many scoring chances in overtime and were stopped on all three of their shootout attempts.
The black and gold have an opportunity at redemption Friday night in a rematch with the Capitals.