Bruins push Capitals to brink with Game 4 win

BOSTON --The Boston Bruins scored twice in the first 1:03 of the third period of a 4-1 win against the Washington Capitals in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup First Round at TD Garden on Friday.

David Pastrnak had a goal and an assist, and Charlie McAvoy had three assists for Boston, which is the No. 3 seed in the MassMutual East Division and has won three straight. Tuukka Rask made 19 saves for his 54th NHL postseason victory, passing Gerry Cheevers for the most in Bruins history.
"We wanted it and it showed," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. "It showed out there. We've talked about getting better all the time as we go along, and that includes this series, that includes period to period. … I think we've progressively built our game here at home."
Ilya Samsonov made 33 saves for Washington, the No. 2 seed, which was 2-for-5 on the penalty kill.
"Yeah … they scored power-play goals tonight. And so, even though it went back-and-forth with the penalties, discipline still always factors into it," Capitals coach Peter Laviolette said. "Some of the penalties I don't like, some of them are part of the game. It's physical out there. At the end of the day, there's got to be discipline."

Teams that lead 3-1 are 291-29 (.909) winning a best-of-7 series, including 13-0 last season. Game 5 is at Washington on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; USA, SN1, TVAS2, NBCSWA, NESN).
"I feel like we have to want it," Capitals forward Nicklas Backstrom said. "I think it's obviously a big game coming up and we have to be mentally ready. I feel like the previous three games before this we were a lot better than tonight. So we've got to be mentally ready and we've got to play for each other."
Bruins defenseman Kevan Miller was taken to the hospital after he was injured at 7:27 of the second period by a hit from Capitals defenseman Dmitry Orlov. Orlov was assessed a major penalty, but it was downgraded to a roughing penalty after a video review. Orlov and Bruins forward Charlie Coyle also each received a roughng penalty after the play.
On the resulting power play, Brad Marchand redirected a shot from Pastrnak to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead at 8:00.

Pastrnak scored another power-play goal for Boston 29 seconds into the third period to make it 2-0, beating Samsonov blocker side from the right circle. It was Pastrnak's first goal of the series.
"It was obviously nice to score a goal, you know," Pastrnak said. "But the important part is that we've been winning, and that's the main focus."
Coyle extended the lead to 3-0 at 1:03. After Jake DeBrusk shot high on a breakaway, he batted the puck from behind the net back toward the crease, where Coyle shot inside the left post.

Alex Ovechkin cut it to 3-1 at 4:54 when his one-timer on the power play redirected off the stick of Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo.
Matt Grzelcyk scored the Bruins' third power-play goal at 14:50 for the 4-1 final.
"[Miller's] a huge part of our team, he sticks up for everyone, so we wanted to do that for him and making sure that we're doing it the right way," Grzelcyk said. "We're beating them on the scoreboard and not taking stupid penalties. … We responded when we needed to, we played the right way for most of the game, and it was a great effort."
NOTES:Boston has won 20 of 22 best-of-7 series it has led 3-1. Washington has lost nine of 11 series it has trailed 3-1. … Capitals forward Lars Eller, who missed Game 3 because of a lower-body injury, played 14:53. He replaced Daniel Carr and had one shot and two hits. … Ovechkin's goal was his 71st in the postseason, tying Bryan Trottier for 16th in NHL history. … Washington had an 18:40 stretch spanning the first and second periods without a shot on goal.