EditorsNote: 6th graf, take out extraneous word 'times'
Brad Marchand collected two goals and an assist and Jaroslav Halak made 31 saves to lift the host Boston Bruins to a 5-1 victory over the Washington Capitals on Friday.
Patrice Bergeron scored and set up a goal, Trent Frederic and Nick Ritchie also tallied and defenseman Charlie McAvoy notched two assists as the Bruins improved to 2-0-2 against Washington this season.
Jakub Vrana scored his third goal in four games and Nicklas Backstrom recorded his 700th career assist for the Capitals, who saw their season-high winning streak end at four games. Vitek Vanecek yielded four goals on 18 shots before being pulled late in the second period for Ilya Samsonov, who stopped six of the seven shots he faced.
Tensions escalated late in the first period after Washington's Tom Wilson leveled Boston defenseman Brandon Carlo with a high hit against the glass. Wilson was not penalized for the hit on Carlo, who was ruled out for the rest of the game with an upper-body injury.
Defenseman Jarred Tinordi, playing in just his second game with the Bruins, sought retribution by dropping the gloves against Wilson at 6:12 of the second period.
That exchange appeared to fire up the Bruins, who scored twice while the combatants served five-minute penalties for fighting. Wilson fought with Frederic early in the third period.
Marchand gave Boston a 1-0 lead at 14:21 of the first period.
Frederic deflected home McAvoy's diagonal feed just 31 seconds after Wilson's first fight, giving Boston a 2-0 lead. The goal likely was extra special for Frederic, who exacted a bit of revenge after being on the business end of a spear from Alex Ovechkin in Boston's 2-1 shootout loss to the Capitals on Wednesday.
Bergeron's one-timer pushed Boston's advantage to 3-0 at 9:01 of the second period.
Marchand tapped home defenseman Matt Grzelcyk's feed at the doorstep with 5:02 left in the second for his team-leading 12th goal of the season.
Ritchie converted David Krejci's centering feed to give the Bruins a 5-0 lead early in the third period before Vrana spoiled Halak's shutout bid by scoring with 6:24 remaining.
--Field Level Media
