The Bruins, who improved to 35-22-5, were able to bounce back from a dismal effort in Nashville, getting contributions in all areas.
Boston’s complete effort included a power-play goal, a perfect day on the penalty kill (3 for 3 and now 14 of 15 since returning from the break), stellar goaltending from Jeremy Swayman (22 saves), and another timely goal from Viktor Arvidsson.
Tied at 1, Viktor Arvidsson scored his 18th goal of the season early in third period for the winner. Arvidsson has goals in back-to-back games and four out of the last five.
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“He works really hard every day for us, I’m so happy to get a chance to play with him,” said Pavel Zacha of his right wing. “He wins so many pucks, scores goals. He’s really aggressive. I think that’s something that you want on your team and he’s been doing a great job. So, we’re really happy to have him and it’s a lot of fun playing with him.”
Elias Lindholm sealed it with an empty-netter in the final minute — his 12th of the season.
The Bruins went on the power play just 43 seconds in when Justin Sourdif dumped Hampus Lindholm behind the Boston net well after the defenseman had dished the puck.
Boston’s struggling power play was able to land just one shot during the two minutes — with Logan Thompson easily squeezing David Pastrnak’s one-timer from the left dot.
Washington got its first chance with the man advantage when Nikita Zadorov was whistled for interference.
Boston clamped down, making the first of its three kills.
Elias Lindholm had the best chance, picking a pass off and rushing in on Thompson, but his bid for a shorty went high over the net and off the glass.
Aliaksei Protas was whistled for slashing Marat Khusnutdinov, but again the Bruins struggled to mount an attack. In fact, the Capitals had the best chance, but Swayman made a save-of-the-year candidate, sliding right to left to deny Tom Wilson on a two-on-one from Connor McMichael.
The Bruins dominated territorially in the second, but the score remained even with each team scoring once.
With Sourdif in the box for his second offensive-zone penalty (he tripped Charlie McAvoy), the Bruins connected on the power play.
McAvoy barreled into the Washington slot, collected a pass from Pastrnak and immediately dished a pass to Zacha, who took it to the net. Zacha’s forehander bounced off Thompson, but the Bruins center was able to backhand the rebound off the shaft of his stick and in for his 16th of the season.
“Yeah, I hit it with the shaft — anything I can try to score there,” said a smiling Zacha. “But it was a great play from C-Mac. It surprised me, a little bit, too. So, I just tried to shoot it and then I saw the rebound in the air. So, it was just kind of deflection there, but it was great play. I think we had some good looks on the power play.”
McAvoy’s assist gave him points in 11 of his last 12 games.
Not long after Protas tied it thanks to a great effort from Jacob Chychrun.
The Washington defenseman dangled the puck just inside the Boston blue line before charging to the net and landing a shot on Swayman, who kicked it out. Protas was there for the rebound however and flicked it in for his 21st of the season.
The hosts controlled the pace in the third, staying aggressive even after taking the lead rather than going in to protect mode.
The Bruins will play in Pittsburgh Sunday, the start of a stretch of eight games in 14 days, including five on the road, where Boston is just 11-14-4.
“I think it all goes back to the way we play and for some reason we just play smarter at home. We have no panic, no chaos, nothing. It’s just we know we will win this game, or we have that feeling and could be the crowd, could be the noise, whatever it is, but we just got to make sure we got to do a road, too,” said coach Marco Sturm. “And on the road, we try really hard. Maybe that’s a problem. Maybe we want overdo things and get in trouble. And so, we just got to figure it out here and hopefully have a big one tomorrow.”
Jim McBride can be reached at james.mcbride@globe.com. Follow him @globejimmcbride.
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