Boston Bruins: 3 Instant Takeaways From Frustrating Loss to Capitals

The standings in the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference are about as compact as can be. Points are at a premium it feels like every game as the postseason race is going to go down to the wire when all is said and done.

For the Boston Bruins, they are in third place in the Atlantic Division, but soon to be in a wild card spot as teams behind them in the standings have multiple games in hand. That's why it is imperative that they start banking points when they can and Tuesday afternoon was one of those games. Unfortunately, a couple of defensive zone mistakes proved costly in a loss to the Washington Capitals. Here are three takeaways from the Black and Gold's loss on the road.

Bruins failed to capitalize on Logan Thompson fighting the puck

The Bruins finished with 27 shots on the net and they had more than that blocked by the Capitals (28), but felt like Washington goalie Logan Thompson was fighting the puck all afternoon. He was shaken by the Boston goal by Justin Brazeau when Parker Wortherspoon's dump took a crazy bounce and ended in front of the Washington net when the Bruins' big forward scored.

After that, the pucks that they did get through to Thompson were being fought by the Caps netminder. He left a good amount of rebounds and Boston was not able to capitalize on those opportunities. It felt like there were more goals there to be had. Late in the game, give Thompson credit for making some timely saves.

Jakob Chychrun pots game-winning goal

Bruins GM Don Sweeney had been trying to get Jakob Chychrun for some time through a trade and he hasn't been able to land him. After Mark Kasteltic took an offensive zone high sticking penalty, the Capitals defenseman fired a wrist shot past Jeremy Swayman on the short side.

The power play was the difference in the game the Capitals went 1-for-2 while the Black Gold went 0-for-2. Boston's second opportunity was as bad as it could be without giving up a shorthanded goal. Washington had the better of the chances on Swayman, outshooting the Bruins, 3-0. The power play is going to be one of this team's undoing this season, among other things

Sloppy defensive zone coverage leads to tying goal

Stop me you've heard this before. The Bruins' defensive zone coverage and lack of winning puck battles led to a goal for the opposing team. That was the case in the first period when Washington tied the game after Brazeau gave them an early lead.

Brandon Carlo had a tough shift, failing to get the puck in deeper in the offensive zone, then he lost a puck battle in the defensive end which led to Aliaksei Protas scoring the game-tying goal when the Bruins left him alone in the slot. The margin for error right now for the Bruins is very thin and mistakes like that are costing them games.

This was the first of three games on the road for the Bruins who return to action on Thursday night against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden before finishing the trip against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night.