David Pastrnak scored an early third period goal that turned out to be the game winner, and the Boston Bruins took home a convincing 4-1 win in Game 4 of their first round playoff series over the Washington Capitals at TD Garden in Boston. The Bruins now lead the best of seven 3-1.
Boston dominated the play and shots on goal, outshooting Washington 11-4 in the opening period but neither team was able to crack the scoreboard. The Capitals hit the post twice on a pair of powerplay chances behind Bruins goalie Tuuka Rask. The hosts finally ended the scoreless tie on the powerplay in the second. Charlie McAvoy got the puck over to Pastrnak who let a shot go from the right faceoff circle, that was tipped into the net behind Washington goalie Illya Samsonov by Brad Marchand at the 8:00 mark. The B’s would extend that early in the third when Pastrnak walked into the right faceoff circle on the powerplay and wristed it in at 29 seconds. On another Boston rush 34 seconds later, Charlie Coyle picked up a loose puck for a rebound tally to make it 3-0. Alex Ovechkin got the Caps on the board on their sixth powerplay of the night at 4:54. The Bruins wrapped up the win on the powerplay when McAvoy slid a pass over to Matt Grzeclyk, who one timed the pass into the net at 14:50.
Rask made 19 saves in the victory, as Boston outshot Washington 37-19. McAvoy was the leading scorer with three assists, while Pastrnak has a goal and an assist. Samsonov made 33 saves in the loss for the Capitals. The Bruins went 3-5 on the powerplay, while the visitors continued to have their problems with the extra man in this series going 1-7. The B’s will try to advance to round two on Sunday night at 7 p.m. in Washington for Game 5.
