3 least impressive players from Boston Bruins 3-1 loss to the Washington Capitals feat. Elias Lindholm

The Boston Bruins dropped a tight battle 3-1 to the Washington Capitals on Tuesday afternoon at Capital One Arena. Boston falls to 20-15-4 in defeat, while Washington improves to 25-10-2.

Boston has turned their season around after firing head coach Jim Montgomery and promoting Joe Sacco to the position. Unfortunately, they just couldn't muster enough offense today to take down the Caps.

Things could not have started any better for the Bruins as Justin Brazeau opened the scoring just 1:21 into the game on a fortuitous bounce on the end wall. However, The top team in the Metropolitan Division eventually found its game as Aleksei Protas, and then Jakob Chychrun, on the power play, put the Caps up 2-1 after one period.

That score remained after two periods of play. After being unable to generate much during the second period, Boston cranked it up a notch in the final frame. Washington began to sit back and the Bruins were all over them.

Caps goaltender Logan Thompson stood tall and shut the door, making 11 saves in the third period. Protas finished it off for the Capitals, scoring an empty-net goal with nine seconds left to seal a 3-1 win.

A solid effort that won't show anything in the final result.

The Bruins will head to the Big Apple to take on the New York Rangers on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden. The puck drops at 7 p.m. ET.

Let's look into the three least impressive player performances from the Bruins' loss.

3 least impressive players in Boston Bruins' 2-1 loss to the WashingtonCapitals

#1. Elias Lindholm

The Boston Bruins $54.25 million offseason signing has struggled in his first year in black and gold. It was more of the same in Washington today. Lindholm finished pointless on the day, with just two shots on goal and a -1 rating in 20:18 of action.

Though he's picked up his game of late, Boston needs Elias Lindholm to find more consistency to live up to his large contract.

#2. David Pastrnak

Pasta won't be thrilled with his performance on Tuesday afternoon. The Czech sniper was held pointless in 19:17 minutes of ice time, recording five shots with a -1 rating. Pastrnak had plenty of looks to score but just couldn't find the back of the net.

With just 13 goals in 39 games this season, David Pastrnak is at a 0.34 goals-per-game pace. That would be the third-lowest rate in a season of his career. Only his first two NHL seasons were lower at 0.22 and 0.29, respectively.

With an 8.6% shooting percentage, you have to think he'll start converting those chances sooner rather than later.

#3. Pavel Zacha

Another Bruins forward who they need to bring more to the table. Pavel Zacha recorded straight zeroes on the scoresheet. He was a -1 in his 18:46 of ice time. Having produced 18 points in 40 games this campaign, Zacha needs to regain the form that saw him rack up 57 and 59 points in his first two seasons as a Boston Bruin.