The Bruins traveled back down to the nation’s capital for Game 5 of their first-round series against the Washington Capitals looking to advance to the second round for the fourth consecutive postseason.
That’s exactly what they accomplished as they executed a professional game-plan from start to finish and didn’t roll over against a desperate Washington team.
Boston’s best players were their best players as David Pastrnak scored a dazzling goal to give Boston the lead and Patrice Bergeron scored twice to send the Bruins to the second round. Tuukka Rask continued his impressive string of play and added to his franchise record with a 55th postseason win. Rask stopped 40 of the 41 shots he faced and seems to be calm, cool and collected as the Bruins now rest up for either the Islanders or Penguins in the next round.
Here are three key takeaways from the Bruins' 3-1 win over the Capitals:
1. Bergeron leads the way
It was only fitting that in a game where the Bruins had a chance to eliminate former captain Zdeno Chara, current captain Patrice Bergeron lit the lamp twice and propelled the B’s to victory.
Leading by a goal late in the second period, Bergeron caught Samsonov sleeping with a quick snap shot in the slot to give Boston an insurance goal. After the Caps came out flying in the third and cut the Bruins' lead in half, Bergeron once again stepped up and took momentum right back from Washington. Bergeron pounced on T.J. Oshie for a steal beneath the left circle and went top shelf for his second goal of the game and third of the postseason to once again give Boston a two-goal lead.
Bergeron and the perfection line were fantastic all series long at both ends of the ice and outperformed Washington’s top players en route to a professional and emphatic 4-1 series win.
2. Highlight-reel goal from Pastrnak
One of the biggest takeaways from Game 4 was the offensive re-awakening of David Pastrnak. Pastrnak was all over the ice, constantly around the puck, and ultimately filled the scoresheet with a goal and an assist in the winning effort.
Game 5 was more of the same as Pastrnak’s shot-first mentality continued to open up options around him and enabled him to fool Nic Dowd with a fake-shot, between-the-legs move before dangling around Ilya Samsonov for a 1-0 lead.
3. Disappointing ending for Chara
After the Bruins and Zdeno Chara decided to mutually part ways last offseason, it was inevitable they would meet in the postseason once the big man ended up in Washington.
For Chara, he hoped to send his former team packing for the golf course while proving his worth en route to a series victory. Instead, Chara was mostly ineffective over the course of the series and the Bruins made rather easy work of the Capitals, especially where Chara’s game is weakest — the skating game.
The disappointment on Chara’s face was evident during the handshake line where he had to look his good friends in the eyes and congratulate them for being the better team, despite playing against their former leader.
The Bruins and all of Boston have nothing but respect for Chara, but as the defenseman gets older and the league gets faster, he could have played his final games in the league.