BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins have their backs to the wall and if ever there was a time to cash in on previous experience, that time is now.

The Washington Capitals took a 3-2 lead in their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series with a 4-3 win over Boston at a sold-out TD Garden in Game 5 Saturday. Game 6 will be in Washington today at 3 p.m.

The Bruins have deflected talk of last season's Stanley Cup run when it comes to what it means to this year's team.

But the fact is, the current roster is made up of nearly the same team from last year and that Cup-winning team had to battle through an 0-2 deficit against Montreal in round one, a seven-game series against Tampa Bay and a 3-2 hole in the Final against Vancouver.

That experience needs to show itself today or the Cup defense is over.

“It's a situation we're familiar with. We've got to find a way to bounce back again this year and bring Game 7 back here (to Boston),” said Bruins forward Brad Marchand, who scored a goal Saturday. “We know anything can happen. We did it last year against Vancouver in Game 6 and we've got to do the same thing.”

Coming out of the Game 4 loss, the Bruins knew what they had to do to create more offense. The plan was to generate more traffic in front of young Caps netminder Braden Holtby. Make him fight through screens to either create goals or rebound chances that lead to goals.

In that regard, the Bruins were successful Saturday. Boston trailed 2-0 in the second period, but scored two goals in 28 seconds to tie the game. The first goal was a clean shot from defenseman Dennis Seidenberg.

The second tally came as a result of net-front presence from the Bruins as Johnny Boychuk's shot from the point hit traffic and Marchand was there to bang home the rebound.

“We were trying to get in front of him. We know we have to do that. He has been playing well,” said Bruin Benoit Pouliot. “It is just a matter of putting pucks at the net. We get a lot of shots every game we just have to create a little more traffic.”

Holtby had been a model of consistency to that point in the series. He calmly found pucks through traffic, read passing plays to get into position and limited rebounds. But those first two goals showed some cracks in his game.

The third goal came on a nice one-timer on the power play from Boychuk where Holtby could not get across in time. They did what they had to do to score goals that have been hard to come by.

“It was a battle, it was a tough game to play, a lot of traffic and a lot of bumping and grinding,” Holtby said. “It's a huge win for us, a win we really grinded out. We had some big performances from some key guys and that was the difference.”

On the other end, Bruins goalie Tim Thomas wasn't able to be the difference-maker Boston needed.

The first two Capitals goals were tough. The first came off a rebound where Thomas was out of position after the initial shot and the second was deflected by Boychuk in front for a hard-to-handle roof shot.

But Washington's third goal was a gift-wrapped special as Thomas misplayed a soft shot right to the tape of former Bruin Mike Knuble for an easy put-back into an open cage. Thomas had tried to play the puck into the corner but could not.

The game-winning goal, which came courtesy of the power play after a questionable slashing call on Pouliot, was one Thomas would like to have back. The Bruins got beat on a head-man pass to Troy Brouwer and he wired a shot over Thomas' glove from the right circle.

“I wish I could have controlled the rebound better. It was low enough that I couldn't get the momentum to get the puck all the way into the corner,” Thomas said of the Knuble goal. “The last goal, he fooled me and beat me clean. He's coming down with a lot of speed and he shot and I read that the shot was going lower. And by the time I even realized that the shot was going that high, I didn't even have time to raise my hand.”

Now, the season comes down to one game for the Bruins. Backs to the wall, back to a situation they've seen before.

“Knowing that we've been in these types of situations and responded well in the past can help to build confidence as a group, that we have what it takes to come back and do what we're going to need to do to win this series if we want to move on,” Thomas said. “But having said that, it's up to us to do it, not just to know that we've done it before. So don't think it's just going to happen. We're going to have to reach down deep inside of ourselves and find a way.”

Ian Clark covers pro hockey for the New Hampshire Union Leader and Sunday News. His e-mail address is iclark@unionleader.com.