Zdeno Chara leads Boston Bruins past Washington Capitals 4-3 for series lead -NHL Playoffs Update
It was an intense competition leading up till the final two minutes of regulation before an inevitable overtime would be called, but captain Zdeno Chara fired off a late goal to lift Boston Bruins past Washington Capitals to take the series lead with a 4-3
win, Monday night, April 16, 2012.
Game-three of the 2012 National Hockey League (NHL) Eastern Conference playoff quarterfinals between Bruins and Capitals was in Washington’s Verizon Center, but it did not affect the Boston team, which now leads 2-1 in the series.
Braden Holtby and Tim Thomas nearly remained equal during the contest as the former faced 29 shot attempts and fell short on four while the latter failed to block three of 32.
"Hopefully, it can give us some real momentum moving forward -- and we can win a couple games by two goals," said Tim Thomas, who was the factor in Boston Bruins run for the cup last year.
With emotions running high, players roughing each other up were not surprising to see at all.
"It's getting more emotional," Chara said. "Players are more involved. It's starting to be more and more physical."
Alexander Semin fired off the first on a power play opportunity as Chara went out after being called for roughing. Rich Peverley added the equaliser 35 seconds into the next while Washington captain, Alex Ovechkin, took the lead for the home team in the
next 13 seconds.
Daniel Paille levelled it one more time for Boston, forcing an intense third period competition with both teams tied at 2-2.
Boston’s outbreak in the final period gave them the crucial tie-breaking victory as Brian Rolston potted his first of the series, followed by Brooks Laich at 14:00 while Chara secured it with less than two minutes left.
"We're a team that stands up for ourselves and stands up for our teammates," Bruins’ Milan Lucic, said. "We're a team with a lot of pride, so that might be a big reason why we get ourselves going."
Game 4 of the quarterfinal series will be in Washington between Capitals and Bruins on Thursday, April 19.
Tags: