Bruins advance on Game 5 win

On Sunday, the Boston Bruins brushed aside Washington, 3-1, to win their opening round series, 4-1.

Patrice Bergeron scored twice for the Boston Bruins

Tuukka Rask made 41 saves for the win.

“I feel like when we started off, we were struggling with the breakouts,” Washington’s  Nicklas Backstrom said. “That’s an area that we struggled against them all series. We had a tough time just getting into the zone.”

Patrice Bergeron scored twice for the Bruins.

“Let’s face it, our top guys came through tonight and our soldiers were good,” Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy said.

Connor Sheary’s goal got Washington as close as 2-1 before Bergeron iced it with a third period strike.

“I thought tonight we had a very good game, we just didn’t score goals,” Washington’s Alex Ovechkin said. “Obviously, you can see how many shots we have, how many chances. Rask played very good and they use their chances.

“But overall, I think it was a good series. It was an interesting series to play. It’s tough for us. It’s hard.”

The Bruins now wait for the winner of the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins first round series.

“He'(Bergeron) s been one of our many leaders for years now,” Rask said. “Now he has the captain’s letter on his chest, [but] he hasn’t changed at all. I think everybody knows what kind of a player and a person he is. Especially in a clutch game like tonight, nobody should be surprised that he scored a goal or two.”

David Pastrnak opened the scoring early in the middle frame for a 1-0 lead to Boston.

“I was definitely surprised because as soon as I kind of got it on my backhand, I was looking for [David Krejci] or [Taylor Hall], and then I just saw a kind of free lane to take it to the net,” Pastrnak said. “Tried it and it worked this time.”

Ilya Samsonov made 16 saves in the loss.

“There were some really good chances in the second period, shots were heavy, the zone time, the volume, everything was good and you walk away and you are down 2-0, and so that is a little bit frustrating,” Washington head coach Peter Laviolette said. “That is kind of the way the series went. There were times when I thought we were good and we weren’t able to capitalize and weren’t able to produce, and at the end of the day you need to be able to produce and you have to put goals on the board.”