Bruins general manager Don Sweeney opted not to sell off players like Viktor Arvidsson at the 2026 trade deadline.

And while an Arvidsson trade never seemed what you would consider close (he also possessed a full no-move clause), it took the veteran less than 24 hours to reward Sweeney’s faith in his game. In direct fashion, too, as it was Arvidsson who scored the game-winning goal in a 3-1 win over the Capitals at TD Garden.

Arvidsson’s goal, which came early in the third period, was his 18th goal of the season and came with assists to Casey Mittelstadt and Hampus Lindholm. And it was in typical Arvidsson, too, as he snuck behind the Washington defense to storm down on Capitals netminder Logan Thompson all alone.

The Bruins opened the scoring in this contest with a Pavel Zacha power-play goal scored at the 4:07 mark of the second period, but allowed the Capitals to respond in quick order with an Aliaksei Protas goal just 3:14 later. 

But the Protas goal would be the lone blemish on Jeremy Swayman‘s afternoon, with 22 saves on 23 shots faced by the day’s end. Swayman’s was a steadying presence throughout the victory for the B’s, and had a big-time shorthanded save on a 2-on-1 chance from Tom Wilson in the first period of play.

The win was Boston’s 12th straight on home ice.

The Bruins will get right back on the road, though, and will now head to Pittsburgh for a Sunday afternoon game with the Penguins.