The Boston Bruins began their tough stretch Thursday night against the Chicago Blackhawks and had no problem taking care of business on home ice. The Black and Gold notched a 4-2 victory dictating the play most of the night against the defending Stanley Cup champions.

Boston will have little time to celebrate as the best team in hockey comes to town Saturday night — the Washington Capitals. The B’s are winless in two matchups against the Caps this season.

As Boston lucked out facing Chicago on the second night of a back-to-back, the Capitals will be in the same situation. So, Boston could take advantage of having an extra day of rest for a second straight game against superior competition. Washington dropped Friday night’s game to the New York Rangers, 3-2.

Gametime: 7:00 p.m.
TV/Radio: NESN/98.5 The Sports Hub
Records: Bruins 36-23-6 (78 points), Capitals 47-13-4 (98 points)
Location: TD Garden

Bruins projected lines

Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Lee Stempniak
Matt Beleskey-David Krejci-David Pastrnak
Loui Eriksson-Ryan Spooner-Jimmy Hayes
Landon Ferraro-Noel Acciari-Brett Connolly

Zdeno Chara-Kevan Miller
Torey Krug-Dennis Seidenberg
John-Michael Liles-Adam McQuaid

Tuukka Rask
Jonas Gustavsson

Capitals projected lines

Alex Ovechkin-Nicklas Backstrom-T.J. Oshie
Andre Burakovsky-Evgeny Kuznetsov-Justin Williams
Jason Chimera-Marcus Johansson-Tom Wilson
Jay Beagle-Mike Richards-Stanislav Galiev

Karl Alzner-Matt Niskanen
Brooks Orpik-Dmitri Orlov
Nate Schmidt-Mike Weber

Philipp Grubauer
Braden Holtby

Matchup to watch: Zdeno Chara against Caps top line

Another Chara-Ovechkin duel highlights the third Bruins-Capitals matchup of the season (photos by Joe Makarski, Bruins Daily)

Chara passed the first test Thursday night holding Patrick Kane and company at bay, but it will not get any easier as he has a date with Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and T.J. Oshie. The Capitals top trio have combined for 159 points this season highlighted by Ovechkin’s league-leading 41 goals.

The 38-year-old defenseman is coming off another game where he played over 23 minutes against speedy and skilled pure goal scorers. It will be no different Saturday night when Ovechkin and crew take the ice against the six-foot-nine blue liner.

In 15 games on Saturday’s, “Ovi” has eight goals and seven assists including three power-play goals. The plan is to contain the 31-year-old Russian because he is very tough to stop.

Storyline to watch: Can the Bruins win back-to-back games against superior teams?

Torey Krug and company look to snap a five-game losing streak against the Caps. (Photo by Joe Makarski, Bruins Daily)

Thursday night at TD Garden was something to marvel at. The Black and Gold played a nearly flawless game against the Blackhawks. Patrice Bergeron scored 1:18 in, Jonathan Toews later tied it for Chicago, but Brad Marchand put the B’s ahead 2-1 where they never looked back en route to the victory.

Winning two games in a row is tough in itself in the NHL, but beating the Blackhawks and then the Capitals in back-to-back games seems almost impossible. Well, the B’s have a chance to do that if they can knock off the best team in hockey Saturday night.

If Boston finds the lead, they cannot let their opponent hang around. They must do what they did a few weeks ago in Dallas, bury them. It’s easier said than done especially against a team like the Capitals, but the B’s need another statement win to be considered a serious threat in the Eastern Conference.