Boston Bruins vs Washington Capitals Match Player Stats On Feb 01, 2021

Brandon Carlo scored the tiebreaking goal late in the third period as the visiting Boston Bruins bounced back from an early three-goal deficit and defeated the Washington Capitals 5-3 Monday night.

This was Washington's first regulation-time loss in the 2020-21 campaign, but fourth loss overall. The Capitals scored the game's first three goals, but a four-goal third period surge gave the Bruins the win.

Washington remained short-handed with Evgeny Kuznetsov and goalie Ilya Samsonov still on the league's COVID-19 protocol list. Lars Eller and Justin Schultz remain day-to-day with injuries.

But Dmitry Orlov returned after missing five games while on the COVID-19 list and helped stabilize the Caps' defense. He had played 401 straight games before having to sit out those five.

The biggest goal during the third period came on a quick shot from Carlo just outside the crease with 2:37 remaining. That gave Boston a 4-3 lead, its first of the game,

Washington appeared to take a lead with just over eight minutes left in the first period on a Carl Hagelin deflection. Boston challenged the play, and offsides was ruled, wiping out the goal.

The Caps then broke through with the two quick goals a little over two minutes later. Former Bruins captain Zdeno Chara made it 1-0 with a long bullet from near the blue line with 6:34 remaining.

Then, 11 seconds later, it was 2-0 when Daniel Sprong worked his way through traffic and scored from near the right circle.

Washington increased the lead to 3-0 when John Carlson beat Jaroslav Halak (23 saves) on a shot from the high slot 8:35 into the second period for a power-play goal.

Boston finally got on the scoreboard later in that period when David Pastrnak put a shot from near the right circle past Vitek Vanecek, who had 28 saves, with 7:23 remaining.

Pastrnak struck again early in the third period on a goal from the high slot at 6:08, and that cut the lead to 3-2. Craig Smith tied it for the Bruins with 6:53 left before Carlo's tie-breaker, and Brad Marchand added an empty-net goal.

--Field Level Media