Neither club broke through in a scoreless overtime, so it came down to a shootout, where Boston got the extra goal it needed for the 3-2 final. Individual scoring details from Sunday weren't available beyond the period-by-period sheet, so neither Alex Ovechkin's night nor James Hagens' push for a roster spot got a confirmed line to point to here — both threads stay open into the next meeting.
- OutPatrick Thomas (C)09/19
Boston's penalty-kill project under new assistant Matt McIlvane got its first live test against a retooled Washington power play, and a game that needed a shootout after four full periods suggests neither special-teams unit ran away with it. The captaincy question between David Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy also went unresolved on the ice — a shootout winner doesn't hand anybody a letter.
The two sides tangle again Sept. 25 in Washington, so nothing from Sunday is close to a final read on either roster. What is clear from the line score: this wasn't a game either team controlled, with the lead changing hands three times before a five-round shootout settled it.
Washington enters that rematch on a run that's now snapped, at least by this result, while Boston is playing its way out of a rough spring stretch one preseason game at a time. Camp battles on both rosters — Washington's rookie wave, Boston's defensemen fighting for the last jobs on the blue line — got one more data point Sunday, even if the shootout itself settles none of them.