The Boston Bruins and Boston Celtics were both in action on Wednesday night on the road. The Bruins tried to break out of their recent struggles in Washington against the Capitals, while the Celtics were looking to extend a four game win streak in Indiana against the Pacers.
At Capital One Arena in Washington, John Carlson scored a third period game winning goal as the Washington Capitals defeated the Boston Bruins 3-2.
In a matchup of the two top teams in points in the NHL, it was the Bruins David Pastrnak striking first at 9:36 of the first period with his league leading 26th goal. On a three on two breakout, Charlie McAvoy found the streaking Pastrnak with a cross ice pass into the bottom of the right faceoff circle and Pastrnak lifted one over the shoulder of Capitals goalie Braden Holtby to make it 1-0.
T.J. Oshie though controlled the second period to give Washington the lead. Oshie got a feed in front of Jaroslav Halak on the powerplay and shot one that hit the crossbar, but got his own rebound to tuck it under Halak at 4:35 to make it 1-1. Oshie did it again at 8:05 taking a feed from Evgeny Kuznetsov at center ice and skillfully working his way in between two Bruins defenders at the blue line skating right to left and backhanding one past Halak to make it 2-1.
Sean Kuraly tied it for Boston at 2:53 of the third. After a faceoff win Torey Krug took a shot from the left point that was deflected by Kuraly in the left faceoff circle beating Holtby over the shoulder stick side to the top of the net. The game winner came 1:49 later when Nicklas Backstrom skated into the Bruins zone and behind the net where he fed Carlson who snapped a one timer into the net from the right faceoff circle.
Halak made 22 saves in the Boston loss. Krug, McAvoy, and Brad Marchand each had assists on the night. Holtby made 30 stops to back the Washington win. The Bruins were 0-5 on the powerplay, while the Caps went 1-3. After an eight game winning streak, Boston (20-6-6) has now lost four straight games. Washington has the best record in the league at 23-5-5 and has won seven of their last eight. The Bruins are in Tampa to battle the Lightning on Thursday night.
At Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Malcolm Brogdon had 29 points as the Indiana Pacers rallied from a 10 point deficit at the end of three quarters to beat the Boston Celtics 122-117.
The loss by Boston (17-6) overshadowed a great effort from point guard Kemba Walker who scored 44 points. Both teams led in the opening quarter as the Celtics were up as many as nine and the Pacers held a short three point advantage, and Boston had a two point lead after one. The visitors went up six early in the second before Indiana (16-9) went on a 27-8 run to take a 13 point lead. Walker cut it down to four with three seconds left in the quarter with a three point play part of his 24 point effort in the first half as it was 61-57 at halftime.
The Celtics and Pacers exchanged one to three point leads for a majority of the third quarter, before a 12-3 run by Boston finished off with a Jayson Tatum three pointer made it 94-84 headed for the fourth quarter. Indiana down eight early in the fourth then made a 14-6 run to tie 102-102 on two free throws from Doug McDermott with 5:07 to go. After Tatum hit two free throws for a two point lead, Aaron Holiday knocked in a three-pointer and Brogdon made two from the line to give the hosts a three point advantage. Walker had the answer though tying it with a three-pointer just 14 seconds later. With just under two minutes left Brogdon again hit two from the line, and after a Walker three-point miss Justin Holiday knocked in a three-pointer to put the Pacers up for good at 114-109. The Celtics cut it to one point several times over the last 48 seconds of play on two Brad Wanamaker free throws, and a driving layup by Walker with 10 seconds to go. Brogdon though knocked down four free throws in the final seven seconds to clinch the Indiana win, after Walker had a chance to tie the score with a three-pointer that was an airball with four seconds remaining.
Walker filled up the stat sheet shooting 16-28 from the field (7-15 three-pointers) adding three rebounds, seven assists, and two steals to go along with the season high in points in the loss. Jaylen Brown had 18 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists. Tatum finished with 16 points, six rebounds, three assists, and two steals. Wanamaker had 12 points and six rebounds, while Daniel Theis also chipped in 11 points and six boards. Brogdon was 6-10 from the floor and 15-15 from the foul line (10-10 fourth quarter) also adding eight assists to his team high in points. A. Holiday had 18 points (11 in fourth quarter). J. Holiday had 17 points and six rebounds, while Domantas Sabonis had 15, T.J. Warren 14, and Myles Turner 11 points to round out the Pacers double digit scorers. Gordon Hayward left the game with 6:28 left after he got hit in the nose inadvertently by the Pacers McDermott. There is no structural damage to Haywards nose and he should be able to play when the team returns to Boston. The Celtics return back home to host the Philadelphia 76ers Thursday night at 8 p.m.
