took a beating from three Bruins in front of the cage late in the third period, but no penalties were called.

The Capitals were excellent at keeping the Bruins at bay and at blocking shots until 12 minutes into the third period. At that point the Bruins’ line of Kelly, Rolston, and Pouliot pressed the attack. Kelly left a drop pass for Rolston, who fired. Rolston’s shot was blunted, but the puck trickled into the slot as Jeff Schultz searched for it. Braden Holtby dove out to poke the puck away, but Benoit Pouliot won the race and put the puck in the back of the net, tying the match and bringing the hibernating crowd back to life. When the clock ticked to zero, the Capitals had stared downthe gauntlet once again and were far more ready for sudden death that they had been on Thursday.

Marcus Johansson and Alexander Semin had been playing exceptional hockey all night in all three zones even before overtime. Once the extra session got underway, Semin made several excellent defensive plays and nearly ended the game on the first shift when John Carlson fed him the puck alone at the Boston blueline. As the Bruins scrambled to make up for a bad line change, Semin fired the puck just wide of Thomas. Not until nearly three minutes had gone by in double overtime did Dale Hunter’s line juggling pay off to bring Johansson to that line. Off an offensive zone faceoff, Johansson followed the puck into the corner and fed it