Recap: Bruins dominate Capitals, 5-1, in heated win

The Boston Bruins exploded out of the first intermission with three goals in the second period to dominate the Washington Capitals, 5-1, tonight at the TD Garden.

The Bruins took the lead at 14:21 in the first period. Being challenged by Justin Schultz, Patrice Bergeron sent a pass to Brad Marchand in the slot where he moved to his backhand and lifted the puck over Vitek Vanecek’s glove, making the score 1-0.

A poorly officiated first period set the tone for the rest of the game. After battling Jakub Vrana along the boards, Brandon Carlo was blindsided with a hit to the head from Tom Wilson.

Carlo never returned to the game and Bruce Cassidy said he was taken to the hospital by ambulance.

No penalties were assessed on the play to a player who is a repeat offender of dangerous hits like this.

But the Bruins came out swinging to start the second period and took matters into their own hands for the cheap shot.

First, Jarred Tinordi stepped up in his second outing as a Bruin and dropped the gloves on Tom Wilson, taking him out of play with a fighting major. And from then on, the Bruins turned on the heat and answered back against the Caps by lighting up the scoreboard.

Trent Frederic gave the Bruins a 2-0 lead at 6:43 in the second period, as Wilson watched the first in a series of goals, three to be exact, from the penalty box. From the right point, Charlie McAvoy found Frederic getting into a better scoring position by sliding up towards the low slot. Frederic got low and angled his stick towards the net where he put in a goal past Vanecek’s stick, making the score 2-0.

The Bruins extended their lead at 9:01 in the second period with an all-around effort from the perfection line. Marchand found Pastrnak’s stick where he did a quick give-and-go pass to Bergeron skating down the slot for a one-timer top-shelf over Vanecek, making the score 3-0.

Marchand netted his second goal of the night at 14:58 in the second period. Matt Grzelcyk skated down the left boards into the face-off circle and found Marchand at the far post where he slid one low past Vanecek. 4-0 Bruins.

The Bruins controlled the flow of the second period and outshot the Capitals 10-8.

The Bs got going early in the third period at 1:05 to take a commanding lead. David Krejci backhanded a pass to Nick Ritchie just inside the low right face-off circle for a one-timer over Vanecek’s glove. 5-0 game for the Bs.

And then moments later Frederic went after Wilson.

Although the Capitals were not going to recover from the deficit, they continued to put pressure on Halak and outshot the Bruins 7-3 for the first 13 minutes of the period. Halak’s performance tonight was huge as he made quality saves throughout the 60 minutes.

Eventually Washington got on the board with a goal at 13:36 in the third period. Nicklas Backstrom fed Jakub Vrana a pass who at the right face-off dot, let a shot fly over Halak’s stick, making the score 5-1.

And that was all she wrote! It was a solid effort from the entire Bruins roster to fuel a heated contest with goals rather than cheap penalties.

The Bruins are back in action on Sunday at home against the New Jersey Devils at 5 pm.