3 most impressive Boston Bruins players from 4-1 win over Washington Capitals feat. Brad Marchand 

The Boston Bruins entered their final game before the NHL's holiday break having won three of their last four games, and hoped to make it four of five with the red-hot visiting Washington Capitals in town.

Despite missing star captain Alex Ovechkin, the Capitals have continued to defy pre-season critics and entered the night with an impressive record of 23-8-2.

However, the Bruins added another loss to Washington's total with a convincing 4-1 victory in which they held the Capitals to a mere 11 shots on goaltender Jeremy Swayman.

The scoring was opened with 48 seconds left in the opening period courtesy of Boston's Justin Brazeau, a power-play goal and his seventh tally of the year.

Early in the second period, the suddenly hot Jakub Vrana scored a power-play goal of his own to knot the score at 1-1.

From that point on, neither team managed to find the back of the net until Elias Lindholm broke the stalemate at 13:41 of the third period with his sixth goal. Just over two minutes later, Charlie Coyle added an insurance goal to make the score 3-1; it was his ninth goal.

With goaltender Charlie Lindgren lifted for the extra attacker, Bruins captain Brad Marchand took advantage of the vacated cage with his 15th goal.

Swayman stopped 10 of the 11 shots he faced, while Capitals goaltender Charlie Lindgren made 18 saves on 21 shots.

3 most impressive Boston Bruins players from 4-1 win over Washington Capitals

#1. Brad Marchand

The Bruins captain, who is playing in the final year of his current contract and has no deal beyond this season, came through in a big way during Monday night's win not only with his empty-net tally but a pair of assists.

Marchand also finished the night with a +3 rating.

#2. Elias Lindholm

Lindholm, who scored against his former Calgary Flames teammates in Boston's victory last week, remained hot by scoring the clutch go-ahead goal in the second half of the third period.

Playing in his first season with the Bruins, Lindholm has begun to adjust nicely, and his timely goal-scoring has played a key role in Boston's recent victories.

#3. Charlie Coyle

The veteran Bruins forward not only picked up a goal and an assist but, like Marchand, finished with an impressive +3 rating.

As one of the elder statesmen on the Bruins roster, they naturally look to him to not only provide leadership but an offensive punch; he brought both in the win over the Capitals.

The Bruins will be in action again when they take on the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Friday.