The Boston Bruins wrapped up their preseason against the Washington Capitals at TD Garden Wednesday night. They fell by a score of 4-3 and lost their third consecutive overtime game. In the previous two games, Boston lost to the Flyers and Rangers by a score of 2-1 and 4-3 respectfully.
Charlie Coyle recorded two points in his preseason debut and earned the second star of the game. Anthony Mantha scored the game-winning goal in overtime and landed two hits.
Vitek Vanecek and Linus Ullmark both played the entire game for their teams. Vanecek looked solid, stopping 33-of-36 shots faced. Ullmark, on the other hand, had another average start. He allowed four goals on 30 shots, which adds up to a .867 save percentage. Though that’s his preseason-high in save percentage, it still won’t get the job done in the regular season.
Before this game, the Bruins outscored their opponents 14-9 and the trend continued. The B’s and Caps were all tied up after two periods thanks to goals from Charlie Coyle and Taylor Hall. Washington got their scores from Evgeny Kuznetsov and Tom Wilson who scored less than a minute apart from each other in the second period. In the third period, David Pastrnak tied the game with less than five minutes left. Before that goal, the Bruins had yet to score after their opponent did in the third period. Though the offense was trending in the right direction, they still couldn’t come away with the win. Anthony Mantha scored with 3:19 left in overtime and gave the Capitals the exhibition victory.
Different game, but the same story for the Bruins. They dropped their third straight overtime game and just couldn’t finish when it mattered most. They’ll play their first regular season game on the 16th at home versus the Dallas Stars.