It was halfway into the game that Washington's TJ Oshie was responsible for the match's delicacy. At speed, he took the puck with him and set off for goals before tricking Boston's Connor Clifton into the stands.
Oshie pulled the puck on one side of Clifton and passed himself on the other, catching the puck himself. He then finished with a delicious backhand shot, giving Washington 2-1.
Boston led in the first period following goals by David Pastrnak. And it was close to 2-0. Patrice Bergeron intercepted his own return with barely five minutes left of the first period. But the home team Washington claimed offside and after further investigation, the goal was sentenced.
"We are all frustrated"In the second period Oshie then acknowledged and, as I said, also took Washington to 2-1 lead.
Boston's Sean Kuraly acknowledged early in the third, but that wasn't enough when Washington through John Carlson after a pass from Nicklas Bäckström barely two minutes later made 3-2, which was also the end result of the match.
Despite the loss, Boston coach Bruce Cassidy is relatively happy.
- We are all frustrated. But as a coach, I'm happy with how the 60 minutes played out, compared to some other evenings. We are in the match, we are there all the time. We could very easily have won. Two or three occasions were probably crucial. But in terms of the effort throughout the match, I think we are getting close to where we want to be, he tells reporters after the match.
Boston puts the team second in the table - after just Washington.