Three things we learned in the Bruins 4-3 victory in Washington Monday night:
We now have a series
Every big-time series has a game where things get testy and set the stage for the battles to come. Consider Game 3, that game.
Milan Lucic was particularly active in the extra curricular activity department, culminating with two and a half minutes left in the third when Matt Hendricks and Karl Alzner mixed it up with the B’s left winger.
Scoring is up
The Bruins finally made Braden Holtby look mortal. Daniel Paille and Rich Peverley each scored in the second period while veteran Brian Rolston also contributed a goal in the third. It was Zdeno Chara’s goal with just 1:57 left in the third that gave Bruins fans most hope going forward, however, as the B’s showed some of that late-game magic that propelled them to the Stanley Cup in 2011.
Of note, the Capitals once again owned the faceoff advantage early, taking a 14-9 lead in the first period.
Stars are out
Chara will be credited as the Bruins hero. On the other side of the ice, it was Alex Ovechkin who finally got going for the Caps, albeit most of it came early.
Ovechkin was physical with the Bruins early and scored just 13 seconds after the Peverley tied it in the second period.
