Bruins Fall Short Against Caps, Sink To Last Place As Losing Streak Hits Nine

BOSTON — All that Joe Sacco has asked of the Boston Bruins lately is to play with some pride.

And for the first time in a long time, the Bruins did after returning home to TD Garden on Tuesday night after a miserable road trip out west. Even still, no amount of pride was going to help the Bruins against the Washington Capitals.

Against one of the NHL’s very best, the Bruins’ best effort simply wasn’t enough as they fell 4-3, stretching their season-long losing streak to nine games.

“Guys are trying to get a win here, right?” the Bruins’ interim head coach said. “We’re all trying to get a win, but that’s a tough emotion, right? You just want to be sure that you keep battling and keep playing through it. I thought we did tonight.”

Boston found itself down by two at the end of the game’s opening 20 minutes but fought back in the second frame.

Vinni Lettieri put the Bruins on the board with his third goal of the season, collecting a quick pass from Marat Khusnutdinov in the slot and firing a shot that beat Capitals netminder Charlie Lindgren high to the blocker side.

After cutting the deficit in half, newly called-up enforcer Jeffrey Viel, who was inserted into the lineup in place of Fabian Lysell, made his presence known when he squared off with Dylan McIlrath at center ice.  The prolonged bout left both fighters exhausted when the dust finally settled.

The refs let 'em go at it 🥊 pic.twitter.com/pY3FrE38tZ

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) April 2, 2025

“I’m ust trying to bring energy,” said Viel. “We talked about it in the first, but it didn’t happen. Down 2-1 there, I was just trying to create a spark there.”

It wasn’t long after that the Bruins tied the game as David Pastrnak scored while on the power play.

Boston continued to battle in the final stanza. Under the attack of a heavy push from the Caps, Jeremy Swayman kept the game close, as he showed shades of the goalie he was not all that long ago by making 27 saves on 31 shots.

Nevertheless, there was little he could do to stop the game-winning goal. With under 10 minutes left to play, a slap shot that sailed wide bounced perfectly off the end boards and right to the waiting Dylan Strome, who was positioned perfectly at the post to put the puck in the back of the net.

“It’s the worst thing ever, not getting results. I’m not going to lie to you,” Swayman said. “I’m my own worst critic. That’s something that I battled and will continue to, but that’s something that I can grow from, and we can grow from. I know that we’re going to start getting results.”

As of now, though, results elude the Bruins.

An insurance goal from Tom Wilson gave the Caps a two-goal lead before Pastrnak quickly responded with his second goal of the night and 37th of the season, but that’s as close as Boston could get.

The Bruins played from behind from the very start.

A cross-checking penalty by McIlrath gave the Bruins, in theory, the chance to take the game’s first lead on the man-advantage. But all it did was lead to Nic Dowd scoring a short-handed goal for Washington 10 seconds into the power play opportunity.

As if the Bruins hadn’t already done enough to hurt themselves,  Pastrnak negated the remainder of the power play when he was called for hooking with 31 seconds left on the penalty by McIlrath. Shortly after, Alexander Ovechkin scored the 891st goal of his career, placing him just four goals away from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s all-time scoring record, putting the Bruins into a 2-0 hole they could never quite climb out of.

ALEX OVECHKIN IS NOW ONLY FOUR GOALS AWAY 🔥 pic.twitter.com/NedEYVAlga

— ESPN (@espn) April 1, 2025

“We put ourselves in a position that we had to play from behind, and we can’t afford that,” said Pastrnak.

Boston has now gone a full six games without collecting a single point in the standings and sunk to dead last in the Eastern Conference.

The Bruins will visit the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night.

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