Bruins blow 3-goal lead, lose in overtime to Capitals

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 05: Eric Fehr #16 of the Washington Capitals follows his game winning goal past goalie Tuukka Rask #40 of the Boston Bruins to give the Capitals a 4-3 overtime win at Verizon Center on March 5, 2013 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)

This was a game that could change the rest of the season for the Bruins in a bad way or it could wake them up and make them realize they need to play a full 60-minute game in order to win. Up 3-0 after the first period, the Bruins broke down and let the Capitals come back to tie it and then the Capitals would finish the Bruins off in overtime 4-3.

Quick game summary
In the first period, Bruins Brad Marchand scored his 12th goal of the season on a penalty shot, and it also counted as a short-handed goal. Later, Bruins captain Zdeno Chara scored his 4th goal of the season, making it 2-0 Bruins. After the Chara goal, off the next faceoff, Bruins Shawn Thornton dropped the gloves with Capitals John Erskine and had a good bout with Thornton knocking Erskine down to the ice either with a punch or Erskine lost his balance. It was Thornton's first fight since his fight with Sabres John Scott when he got the concussion. With 1:30 left in the period, Bruins Dougie Hamilton scored his 3rd goal of the season, a power-play goal, making it 3-0.

In the second period, Capitals Mike Ribeiro scored, making it 3-1. Later, Capitals Tomas Kundratek scored, making it 3-2.

In the third period, Capitals Wojtek Wolski scored, tying the game 3-3.

In overtime, 37 seconds into the period, Capitals Eric Fehr scored to win the game 4-3 for Washington.

Game notes
Tuukka Rask played in net for the Bruins and made 22 saves on 26 shots. Rask is now 11-2-3 with a 2.09 GAA and a .923 save percentage this season.

The Bruins led the game in shots 33-26, faceoff wins 36-32 and blocked shots 21-20. The Capitals led the game in hits 23-22. The Bruins went 1-for-2 on the power-play while the Capitals went 0-for-4.

David Krejci led the Bruins with 4 shots. Milan Lucic and Adam McQuaid led the Bruins with 4 hits apiece. Dennis Seidenberg led the Bruins with 7 blocked shots.

Player notes
The Bruins third line is struggling this season as: Chris Kelly has 1 goal in 20 games and is -7, Rich Peverley has 3 goals in 20 games and is -8, and Chris Bourque has 1 goal in 18 games and is -6. I would expect this line to get breaken up somehow and maybe some roster changes are coming.

Onto the next one
The Bruins are now 14-3-3 with 31 points. The next game for the Bruins is on Thursday when they host the Toronto Maple Leafs at 7pm ET in Boston.