Bruins take 3-1 series lead over Capitals with big Game 4 win at TD Garden
Overtime was not on the menu Friday night, as the Bruins scored three third-period tallies, including two goals in 34 seconds in the third, to power themselves themselves to a 4-1 win and 3-1 series lead over the Capitals.
https://twitter.com/HeresYourReplay/status/1395903225371443200
The Bruins started this contest about as aggressive as they could have imagined, too, with back-to-back successful penalty kills and an 11-4 shot advantage (11-2 if you go by five-on-five shots alone) by the period’s end. But the Bruins failed to get one by Ilya Samsonov before the first intermission, with Charlie Coyle’s shot off Samsonov’s right post with just nine seconds left putting an exclamation mark on a period that saw the Black and Gold do everything but score.
Washington countered the B’s post-shot with a ding of their own, this one from Tom Wilson, while Samsonov made his best stop of the night in the middle frame with a breakaway stop on the Bruins’ Taylor Hall.
But when the Capitals found themselves down a skater following Dmitry Orlov’s launch into Kevan Miller, which resulted in a double-minor and a shaken-up Miller departing for the tunnel (and then the hospital), it was Pastrnak and the B’s who made them pay with a power-play snipe (and deflection off Marchand) through Samsonov at the 8:00 mark of the middle frame.
Boston’s big second period wasn’t done without some more penalty-kill dominance, however, and it came with some gigantic blocks against Alex Ovechkin, including one from a stick-less Connor Clifton and then another from Brandon Carlo.
The third period barrage from the Bruins began with Pastrnak’s power-play bullet at the 29-second mark of the period, and it was Charlie Coyle who banged home the third B’s goal of the evening just 34 seconds later.
Charlie Coyle makes it 3-0 Bruins. pic.twitter.com/b0AzMcekgS
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) May 22, 2021
The Capitals responded with a power-play goal off Carlo’s stick and through Tuukka Rask, but the Bruins made sure there would be no sweating to close this contest out, as Matt Grzelcyk’s power-play bomb with 4:10 remaining in the third pushed the Boston edge back out to three.
On the kill a staggering seven times by the night’s end, the Bruins came through with successful kills on all but one of their trips to the box (the Carlo own-goal), and are now 14-for-17 against Washington’s power play in this series.
Rask finished with 19 saves for the victory, while Samsonov took the loss behind a 33-save effort.
The Bruins and Capitals will now make their way back to D.C. for Game 5 on Sunday night.
Ty Anderson is a writer and columnist for 985TheSportsHub.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, or any subsidiaries. Yell at him on Twitter: @_TyAnderson.
