Bruins general manager Don Sweeney decided not to sell (or buy, for that matter) at the 2026 trade deadline this past Friday.
It was a direct message to Boston’s roster that he believed in the strides that the club had made this season under first-year head coach Marco Sturm. Only time will tell if that was indeed the right move made by a Black and Gold front office that acknowledges that they’re not done building this thing back up in their desired vision. But the best way to immediately reward that message, of course, was to bounce back from Thursday’s ugly loss in Nashville with a win against a Capitals team chasing you for a playoff spot.
And the Bruins did exactly that in a 3-1 win over the Caps at TD Garden.
Here’s a look at the 985TheSportsHub.com 3 Stars of the game…
3rd Star: Pavel Zacha
Mar 7, 2026; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Bruins center Pavel Zacha (18) reacts after scoring a goal against the Capitals during the second period at the TD Garden. (Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images)
Coming out of the Olympic break, the Bruins’ vaunted power play has not been performing to the level expected out of them. But Pavel Zacha did his best to gain some momentum for the top unit with a second-chance putaway to kick things off for the Bruins in the winning effort.
Zacha finished the game with three shots, and the Capitals landed just two shots on goal during Zacha’s 7:55 of five-on-five deployment.
2nd Star: Viktor Arvidsson
Mar 7, 2026; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Bruins left wing Viktor Arvidsson (71) watches a face-off against the Washington Capitals during the third period at the TD Garden. (Brian Fluharty/Imagn Images)
In possession of a no-move clause, Bruins winger and pending unrestricted free agent Viktor Arvidsson certainly had some say when it came to his fate at the trade deadline. (And to be honest, it never seemed like the Bruins had much if any interest in trading the veteran scorer.)
And, again, only time will tell if hanging on to Arvidsson when he could’ve yielded the Bruins a massive haul in a relatively thin trade market was the right call for Sweeney’s club. But if there’s one way to get people to feel like it was the right call, it’s by continuing to score at the rate that No. 71 has and continued to in Saturday’s victory.
I guess the question will eventually become whether or not Arvidsson has played well enough to be a legitimate option for a contract extension.
1st Star: Jeremy Swayman
Mar 7, 2026; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Capitals center Justin Sourdif (34) attempts a shot against Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman (1) at TD Garden. (Brian Fluharty/Imagn Images)
Fresh off trading veteran and locker room favorites Nic Dowd and John Carlson, the Capitals were dying to feel good about something. But Bruins netminder Jeremy Swayman decided to deny that motion, and turned in yet another strong outing, with saves on 22 of 23 shots in the winning effort.
According to NaturalStatTrick.com, Swayman stopped four of five high-danger shots faced by Washington, and also allowed just one goal despite having an expected goals against of 2.48.Â