BOSTON — Rest and relaxation did not do much for the Bruins.
After a nine-day All-Star/bye week break, the Bruins dropped just their second home game in regulation, losing to the Washington Capitals, 2-1, at TD Garden on Saturday.
The Bruins power-play drought stretched to 0 for 18 with an 0-for-4 showing on Saturday. While that’s a bit misleading — three of the man-advantages were abbreviated — they had a golden chance to tie the game midway through the third period on a full two-minute advantage but they could not get the equalizer behind Darcy Kuemper. They also got a late one with 25 seconds left in regulation for a 6-on-4 with the goalie pulled, but they could not get through what had been a quality Washington defensive effort to even it up.
The Bruins, now losers of four of their last five, were on the chase all day.
The Caps scored the only goal of the first period after a succession of penalties after five penalties in less than two minutes gave Washington a lengthy two-minute advantage. The last two infractions were a hooking call on Charlie Coyle off a faceoff and an interference penalty on Hampus Lindholm when the defenseman tried to direct Taylor Hall’s loose stick back to the wing and the stick broke up a Caps’ breakout.
On the 5-on-3, Jeremy Swayman could not get a hold of a loose puck at the top of the crease and Nicklas Backstrom was able to find the loose change for an easy goal at 6:28.
The Caps held a 10-7 shot advantage in the first, but the Bruins turned down some prime shots. When Hall had an open lane to the net from the left wing, he elected to take it behind the net and the threat fizzled. Trent Frederic also had a chance to rip a quick shot from the left side but instead tried a cross-ice pass back to Brad Marchand that never reached its destination.
The Bruins had a great chance to tie it up midway through the second period when Charlie McAvoy made a nice move through the slot then fed Marchand, who was changing on, but Kuemper was able to get over to the short side to make a terrific glove save.
Then the Caps doubled their lead at 11:40. Garnet Hathaway stopped Jakob Lauko’s soft clear attempt right on the blue line, skated into the high slot and simply beat Swayman with a hard wrist shot off the crossbar and in, taking a hard, late-ish hit from Connor Clifton for his effort.
But before the second was done, the Bruins did get one back with 3:26 left in the period. Off the rush on the right wing, Hall’s pass for Clifton was just off and he tried to chase it down behind the net. Instead of skating through with it, Clifton knocked a backhand pass back out front on the right side and Nick Foligno was able to jam home his eighth of the year.
