Bruins top Capitals, force Game 7 – USATODAY.com

Last season, Boston beat all three in seven-game series.

And now, they're headed for another Game 7 after beating Washington 4-3 in overtime of Game 6 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal Sunday afternoon.

Tyler Seguin, the Bruins' regular-season leading scorer, beat Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby 3:17 into overtime for his first goal of the postseason at the best possible time for Boston.

The Bruins never trailed in Sunday's game, one they needed to win to stay alive.

They struck first less than six minutes into the game. Rich Peverley deflected a shot from Andrew Ference from the blue line, and Boston jumped out to its first 1-0 lead in any game this series (excluding Game 1's 1-0 overtime win).

But that rare Boston lead didn't last long.

Four minutes later, Washington defenseman Mike Green evened the score at 1-1 with his first goal since Oct. 22. Green froze and waited for a Boston's shot blocker to slide past him before he fired the shot past Bruins' goaltender Tim Thomas. The goal was Green's first of this postseason and sixth playoff goal overall.

David Krejci scored a power-play goal a little over three minutes into the second period. Holtby got a piece of the puck, but it still managed to trickle into the net. (The Bruins were 0-for-12 through the first four games on the power play, but have since scored two goals with the extra man in the past two games.)

By the middle of the second period, both teams were getting a bit chippy. They combined for six penalties in the period, including a four-minute double minor penalty on Alex Ovechkin for high-sticking. Post-whistle skirmishes became more common as the game went on, particularly with both teams struggling to score in the second period.

The Caps outshot the Bruins 15-5 in the second period, forcing Thomas to make a few sensational saves — including one on a Marcus Johansson apparent open-net shot where Thomas dove to his left, fully extended his body and just blocked the shot with the tip of his outstretched stick.

After pressuring and peppering Thomas for much of the period, the Caps finally found the back of the net again in the second period's final minute.

It started with a possible missed call on the other end of the ice, as replays showed that Caps forward Jason Chimera might have elbowed Boston's Brad Marchand. Marchand spun around and fell, but no whistle was called. TV commentators speculated about possible embellishment on Marchand's end.

Chimera streaked up ice, received a beautiful pass from center Nicklas Backstrom and punched in the game-tying goal in front of the crease with 41.9 seconds left in the second period.

Boston again took a one-goal lead nearly 12 minutes into the third period on an Anthony Ference rebound goal set up by Tyler Seguin.

With 4:52 left in regulation, Backstrom won a faceoff in the Bruins' zone, and Ovechkin scored on a slap shot. The score remained 3-3 until overtime.

Seguin's game-winning goal sends the series back to Boston for Game 7, which will take place on Wednesday.