BSJ Game Report: Bruins 4, Capitals 3 - McAvoy lifts Boston past Caps; Marchand exits with injury

Everything you need to know from the Bruins’ 4-3 win over the Capitals, complete with BSJ insight and analysis:

Box Score

SHORT SHIFT

The Bruins might have secured two points against the Capitals, but an injury to Brad Marchand overshadowed some of the good tidings that came from a dramatic 4-3 win over Washington on Thursday night at TD Garden.

Marchand, who exited the game in the second period after getting drilled into the boards, shoulder-first, by Garnet Hathaway, was ruled out with an upper-body injury. Postgame, Bruce Cassidy didn’t have any update on Marchand — who has established himself as Boston’s most lethal playmaking presence in its forward corps. 

Without arguably their top player, the Bruins still managed to best the Caps in regulation — with Charlie McAvoy breaking a 3-3 draw with just 45 seconds left on the clock to lift Boston to a much-needed win. 

David Pastrnak (twice) and Jake DeBrusk also scored for the Bruins, who improve to 23-12-2 on the season. Linus Ullmark stopped 14 of the 17 shots that came his way. 

Evgeny Kuznetsov opened the scoring for the visitors with a short-side snipe just 4:07 into the contest, but the B’s retaliated just 50 seconds later — with Pastrnak burying his 17th tally of the year off the rush with Taylor Hall.

Driving to the net, Hall threaded the needle in the slot and found Pastrnak, who deposited the offering into twine to knot the game up at 1-1.

The rest of the opening period was marked with physical play — as Tom Wilson raised the temperature in the building with a bone-crunching hit against Anton Blidh shortly after the fourth liner crossed over into the Caps’ zone. Boston countered in the closing minutes of the first with McAvoy trucking over Trevor van Riemsdyk behind Washington’s net.  

Pastrnak buried his second goal of the night at 8:37 in the second, with the winger receiving a crisp feed from Matt Grzelcyk and eventually tucking the puck past Vitek Vanecek on a breakaway. That power-play tally did come at a cost, as it was a direct result of Hathaway's hit that sent Marchand down the tunnel and ended his night. 

To add insult to injury, the Caps knotted things up just a few minutes later, with Ullmark relinquishing a softie to Lars Eller.

DeBrusk gave Boston the lead once again on a tally that was confirmed via video review at 9:41 in the third — but the Caps punched right back just 36 seconds later, with Nicklas Backstrom snapping a shot home from the slot to tie things up once again at 3-3.

A foolish tripping penalty by Nic Dowd at 17:26 gave Boston the opportunity it needed to push back ahead — with McAvoy giving Boston the lead for good with a shot from the slot at 19:15.

THREE UP

David Pastrnak & Second Line: Another encouraging performance from Pastrnak, who is finally finishing Grade-A looks with regularity once again. It’s awfully hard to stop both Pastrnak and Hall on the rush when Hall is setting up looks like this:

Jake DeBrusk: Give credit where it’s due: DeBrusk made the most of his promotion up to Boston’s top line in wake of Marchand’s exit — giving Boston a short-lived third-period lead before later earning the primary assist on McAvoy’s game winner.

Charlie McAvoy: Beyond just his game-winning strike in the final minute of play, McAvoy was once again stout in all areas of the ice — logging 24:35 of ice time and providing a necessary response in wake of Wilson’s hit on Blidh with a thunderous check of his own against van Riemsdyk. 

THREE DOWN

Linus Ullmark: Just a brutal, back-breaking goal to cough up from Ullmark in the second period. Shortly after Marchand exited the game for good — and just after Vanecek came up with a big stop on a DeBrusk breakaway — you can’t give up goals like this.

Brandon Carlo: Really rough night at the office for Carlo, especially in the third period — where his D-zone turnover led to Backstrom’s game-tying goal just seconds later. 

Garnet Hathaway: Tom Wilson might be Public Enemy No. 1 for Bruins fans as far as the Caps are concerned, but Hathaway has been getting away with some pretty awful stuff over his last few meetings with Boston. The Kennebunkport product — who got a game misconduct last April for drilling Jared Tinordi into the boards — was at it again with his hit on Marchand that drew the ire of the Bruins postgame. 

"He's that kind of player,” Pastrnak said of Hathaway. “I didn't like it. I think it was dirty."

LOOSE PUCKS

All eyes on Marchand 

As expected, Cassidy had no update on Marchand postgame, but any extended absence for the B’s winger would be a catastrophic hit to Boston’s fortunes. 

Even though Boston’s secondary scoring has broken through as of late, Marchand has routinely served as Boston’s game-breaker in the O-zone, be it at 5v5 play or on the power play. DeBrusk offered solid returns in a pinch, but the B’s are going to be in dire straights if Marchand is out for weeks/months. 

Blidh also exits

Not to be lost in the shuffle with Marchand’s early exit, but the B’s finished the night with just 10 forwards after Blidh exited the game for good following Wilson’s hit in the opening 20 minutes. 

Wilson’s hit might have been clean, but the B’s winger was still absolutely trucked by the power forward — needing help getting back on his feet before eventually heading down the tunnel. 

With Nick Foligno back in the lineup and Oskar Steen available, the Bruins should have a relatively easy fix, lineup-wise, in the bottom-six unit. But it’s still an awful break — especially for a guy in Blidh who looked as though he had finally turned a corner over the last few weeks. 

PLAY OF THE GAME

QUOTE OF NOTE

"You hate to see a guy like Marsh go down on such a cheap hit. But that's hockey sometimes." - Bruce Cassidy 

“Today was a big character win for us” - David Pastrnak

PARTING THOUGHTS

LOOKING AHEAD

The Bruins will continue their seven-game homestand on Saturday afternoon with another matinee matchup — this time against the Winnipeg Jets. Puck drop is set for 3 p.m.