BSJ Game Report: Capitals 2, Bruins 1 (SO) - Caps outlast Boston in Zdeno Chara's return to TD Garden

Everything you need to know from the Bruins’ 2-1 shootout loss to the Capitals in quickie form, with BSJ insight and analysis:

Box Score

HEADLINES

In honor of Zdeno Chara's return to TD Garden, the Bruins and Capitals were embroiled in a defensive stalemate for most of Wednesday's showdown at TD Garden — with Jakub Vrana's shootout strike serving as the difference-maker in what was a 2-1 victory for Washington.

David Pastrnak tallied the lone goal for the Bruins, who have posted just two wins in their last seven games. Tuukka Rask stopped 27 of the 28 shots that came his way in the loss.

Boston struggled to gain much in terms of offensive traction in the opening 20 minutes, with their first shot on goal coming with just 4:32 left in the period off of a harmless volley off Jake DeBrusk's stick after just crossing the offensive blue line. T.J. Oshie appeared to put the Caps on the board in the opening frame, but Boston challenged for offside, with the subsequent review wiping the tally off the board.

Even though Boston was noticeably sharper with the puck in the second and managed to get past Washington's stout line of bodies in the neutral zone, neither side managed to get on the board until 1:19 into the next frame — with Pastrnak opening the scoring with his 10th tally of the year off of a great defensive play by Brad Marchand, who forced a turnover down the other end of the ice after pressuring John Carlson up high.

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Ultimately, a costly turnover by Sean Kuraly allowed the Caps to counter — with Lars Eller burying a chance at 6:14 to eventually force overtime. A magnificent showing from Rask in the five-minute period (five saves in OT) kept Boston alive, but Varna scored the lone goal in the shootout to secure two points for the visitors.

B's lose Coyle due to COVID protocols: The Bruins' stretch of luck when it comes to COVID Protocols has apparently run out — as the club announced a few hours ahead of puck drop on Wednesday that Charlie Coyle would not play against the Capitals due to the heath protocols put in place by the league to combat the spread of the virus.

It is important to note that a player placed on the NHL's COVID Protocols list doesn't signal that said individual HAS tested positive for COVID-19. Other reasons can include possible symptoms, a false positive test, quarantine due to contact tracing, inconclusive results and more. Coyle skated with the rest of his teammates during Wednesday's morning skate at Warrior — and was expected to center a third line alongside Trent Frederic and Craig Smith.

With Coyle out, Jack Studnicka slotted into the third-line center spot, while Sean Kuraly shifted over to the pivot role on the fourth line. It's a tough break for Coyle, who was beginning to build some traction in the offensive zone (four points in his last four games) after being mired in a prolonged scoring slump.

Postgame, Bruce Cassidy said that Boston found out about Coyle's status midday, but had no further updates. Hopefully it was just a testing issue or a precautionary move, because Boston can't afford to lose even more skaters during this current slide — or even worse, postpone games.

Zdeno Chara returns: For the first time since March 16, 2006, Zdeno Chara took to the ice as an opponent of the Boston Bruins — with the Washington Capitals defenseman logging 16:59 of ice time in the victory for the visitors.

It was a surreal sight to see the future Hall of Famer on the ice in a Washington sweater, headlined by the Bruins' tribute video to their former captain in front of an empty TD Garden. Hopefully, Chara will be treated with a more bombastic curtain call when the Caps return in April and a few thousand fans are back in the stands.

https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1367270474602938370

THREE UP

David Pastrnak: Pastrnak did it all on Wednesday night, burying his 10th goal of the season off of a fantastic defensive sequence from Marchand. Marchand deserves a huge stick tap for pressuring Carlson up high on that sequence, but Pastrnak also had himself a great defensive play earlier in the night — breaking up a 2-on-1 Capitals rush with a fantastic backchecking effort.

https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1367286623021527041

Tuukka Rask: Rask was denied win No. 300 of his career, but it wasn't for a lack of effort on his part — with the B's goalie finishing with 27 saves on 28 Capitals shots on the night. Although it's been a so-so start to the season for Rask, he has been nails in overtime — covering for multiple breakdowns and odd-man rushes during 3v3 play.

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Trent Frederic: He didn't get on the scoresheet, but Frederic deserves a stick tap just for attempting to drop the gloves with Alex Ovechkin here. Of course, the Capitals star didn't oblige (no need to spend five minutes in the box while trailing, 1-0), but Frederic continues to show little fear when it comes to scrapping with the toughest guys in the league — be it Ovechkin or Tom Wilson.

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Frederic later paid the price for continuing to engage with Ovechkin, as he took a spear below the belt in the third period. It certainly hurt, but it did keep the Capitals star off the ice for two minutes, at least.

"He's come into the league and decided he's gonna be an agitator to a certain extent," Cassidy said of Frederic. "He's done a good job with it. We like that out of him. He can continue to bring it as long as it doesn't bring him off his game but brings others off theirs."

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TWO DOWN

Sean Kuraly: Already mired in a tough stretch on Boston's fourth line, Kuraly cost the Bruins big time in the third period, with a lazy clearing pass getting picked off in the D-zone by the Caps and it led to Eller's equalizer just a few seconds later. Can't have that, especially while protecting a one-goal lead.

Krejci Line: While some of the usual suspects continued to struggle (Kuraly, DeBrusk), Boston's second line had a night to forget — with the Capitals holding a 12-2 edge in shot attempts when the Ritchie-Krejci-Smith line was deployed on Wednesday. Not going to get a lot of secondary scoring when half of your top-six unit is only attempting two shots on net.

PLAY OF THE GAME

This game would have been over a few minutes earlier had it not been for Rask's multiple stops in OT.

https://twitter.com/HeresYourReplay/status/1367306538268954624

PARTING THOUGHTS

You'd think Boston would score 10+ goals, given the switch to the pregame playlist. Alas...

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

https://twitter.com/ShawnHutcheon/status/1367313726412619781

LOOKING AHEAD

The Bruins will battle the Capitals again on Friday night, with puck drop set for 7 p.m. at the Garden.