BOSTON — T.J. Oshie tied it with 59 seconds left in regulation and Jakub Vrana scored the decisive goal in the shootout as the Washington Capitals beat the Boston Bruins 3-2 Saturday night in a matchup of the top two teams in the Eastern Conference.
Boston led 2-1 when the Capitals pulled goalie Braden Holtby for an extra skater with about 85 seconds left in the third period. They quickly established possession in the Bruins zone, then tied it when Oshie converted on Evgeny Kuznetsov’s pass from behind the net.
Charlie Coyle scored to open the shootout for Boston, but Holtby stopped the next four tries. Nicklas Backstrom tied it on Washington’s third try and then, after Jaroslav Halak’s glove save on Alex Ovechkin went to a replay review, Vrana scored the winner.
Holtby stopped 21 shots for Washington, which outshot the Bruins 44-23 in regulation. Travis Boyd scored in regulation for the NHL-best Capitals.
David Pastrnak scored to break a second-period tie, and Coyle also had a goal in regulation for Boston. Halak made 42 saves for Boston, which has beaten the Capitals just once in 15 tries (0-11-4).
Coyle gave Boston the lead midway through the first when he skated through the slot and one-timed a pass from Danton Heinen. Washington tied it before the period was over on a double deflection of John Carlson’s shot from the blue line that went first off Boyd’s stick and then hit Bruins defenceman Urho Vaakanainen’s before bouncing into the net.
But Pastrnak put Boston ahead with his 17th goal of the season, bouncing it off Holtby into the net with 3:30 gone in the second period.
NOTES
The Bruins played without F Patrice Bergeron, who was scratched with an undisclosed injury. … D Torey Krug was placed on injured reserve Saturday. He was hurt in the Nov. 10 game against Philadelphia. … Washington F Tom Wilson went to the locker room briefly in the second period after colliding with teammate Ovechkin. … Both teams were coming off games Friday night, when the Bruins beat Toronto to snap a four-game losing streak and the Capitals lost to Montreal, snapping a 13-game point streak in which they were 11-0-2. … The Bruins haven’t lost at home in regulation. They are 7-0-4.
UP NEXT
Capitals: Host Anaheim on Monday.
Bruins: At New Jersey Devils on Tuesday.
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Jimmy Golen, The Associated Press