Game 3 will be played at Boston on Wednesday (6:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN360, SNE, SNO, SNP, TVAS, NESN, NBCSWA).
The Bruins, who believed they had been the better team over the bulk of the evening, had twice taken a lead and twice given it back before Garnet Hathaway scored his second of the game at 7:04 of the third period to give the Capitals a 3-2 lead that looked like it might stick.
But there came Hall, the player who arrived in Boston prior to the 2021 NHL Trade Deadline on a mission and proceeded to score 14 points (eight goals, six assists) in 16 regular-season games after scoring 19 points (two goals, 17 assists) in 37 games with the Buffalo Sabres.
Hall had come to Boston for just such an opportunity and, after a quiet Game 1, made his mark in the third, the extra effort allowing him to remain in position during a mad scramble around Capitals goalie Craig Anderson. As Hall put it, "a greasy goal, for sure."
"It wasn't a perfect game for me," Hall said. "I still think I have another level to get to, personally. But as a team we came together and won a game, and that's all you can ask for."