Halak’s 42 saves Not Enough As Bruins Lose 3-2 To Caps In Shootout

BOSTON — In a battle of the two best teams in the Eastern Conference, it was Boston Bruins goalie Jaro Halak was the story making 42 saves for the Bruins and almost single-handedly pulled the Bruins to within two points of the Washington Capitals, but the Bruins couldn’t hold on to a late 2-1 lead and lost 3-2 in the shootout. T. J. Oshie tied the game with 58.6 seconds left in regulation and Jakub Vrana scored the shootout winner for the Caps.

The Bruins got goals from forward Charlie Coyle and David Pastrnak in regulation and Travis Boyd scored the Capitals’ first goal. In the shootout, Charlie Coyle scored for the Bruins and Nicklas Backstrom scored the first Capitals goal.

Coyle got his second goal in as many games and fourth of the season when he took a beautiful feed from Danton Heinen 11:32 into the first period. Anders Bjork did a great job in front of Capitals goalie Braden Holtby, distracting him and defenseman Michal Kempny, to free up Coyle for the one-timer in front.

Danton Heinen finds Charlie Coyle who opens the scoring 1-0 #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/WdYVu00ciY

— Marina Molnar (@mkmolnar) November 17, 2019

The Bruins’ lead was short-lived as Boyd scored his first of the season at 14:27 to tie the game at one. Defenseman John Carlson and forward Brendan Leipsic got the helpers. The assist for Carlson gave him 32 points which leads all NHL defensemen.

Pastrnak gave the Bruins the lead again just 3:30 into the middle frame as he converted on a bank shot to the left of Holtby. McAvoy had actually missed an empty net and Pastrnak was there to collect the puck and bury it for his 17th of the season. Bruins center David Krejci had the secondary assist.

Charlie McAvoy misses the wide open net but David Pastrnak buries it from an absurd angle.

2-1 #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/Kt0vnj1g1v

— Marina Molnar (@mkmolnar) November 17, 2019

Oshie’s goal came 19 seconds after the Capitals pulled Holtby for the extra attacker and capped off some chaotic moments in the Bruins zone. Halak made two saves in the midst of the chaos and it appeared the Bruins would clear the zone but the Caps kept it in. Oshie came down the slot and took a feed from Evgeni Kuznetsov to bury it by Halak. Nicklas Backstrom had the other helper.