Washington’s Troy Brouwer beat Tim Thomas 18 minutes and 33 seconds into the third period and the Bruins could not respond as they fell to the Caps, 4-3, Saturday afternoon at TD Garden. The Caps now lead the series 3-2 and could end it all for the defending Stanley Cup champion Bruins Sunday in Washington (3 p.m., NBC).
The Bruins fought back valiantly all afternoon as Boston’s Johnny Boychuk tied it at three apiece with 11:14 remaining in the third. But, as they have all series, the B’s dug themselves holes that they could not climb out of.
Washington’s Mike Knuble broke a 2-2 tie early in the third period with a tip in early. It appeared Milan Lucic would come right back with a goal of his own, seconds after Knuble’s, but his struggles continued around the net.
The Caps and Bruins were knotted up at 0 after one period. The Caps’ Jason Chimera and Zdeno Chara got tangled up along the boards before break, leaving Chara woozy.
The Bruins still only just one first period goal in the series.
The second period served as a relative offensive outburst for both teams as there were four goals total in the session.
The Caps took advantage of Joe Corvo, who was without his stick and limping about the ice, with 8:44 left in the second period. Alexander Semin punched it past Tim Thomas to give Washington a 1-0 advantage.
Washington’s Jay Beagle, off the stick of Boychuk, gave the Caps a 2-0 advantage, silencing the TD Garden crowd and officially putting Boston in panic mode for a few moments.
Dennis Seidenberg, however, turned things upside down with a rifling shot off a nice feed from Milan Lucic with under three minutes to go.
Brad Marchand then trickled one between the legs of Braden Holtby. It was Marchand’s first goal of the postseason and the Bruins had two goals in 28 seconds.
