BOSTON, MA -- While much of attention on the B's blueline was focused on Boston defensemen Dennis Seidenberg and Zdeno Chara's work to keep Washington captain Alex Ovechkin (one shot, seven hits) off the board, it was Bruins D-man Joe Corvo's turnaround bounce pass off the boards to Brian Rolston that created the offensive opportunity which became Chris Kelly's first career overtime goal in the playoffs.

"One guy slipped behind me and [Greg Zanon] caught up to [Johannson] and he just shot it on the ice," said Corvo. "It came right back to me and I chipped it out [to Rolston].

"[Benoit Pouliot] passed it to Kells [Chris Kelly] and Kells shelved it."

Kelly's goal closed the book on Game 1 and gave Boston a 1-0 lead in the Eastern Quartrfinal Series with the Capitals going into Saturday's Game 2 (3:00 p.m. on CBC, NBC, RDS and 98.5 The Sports Hub).

After all the good work put in by the B's, Corvo was pleased to see the "W" go in Boston's column.

"Very happy," said Corvo of the final result. "I mean, it’s one of those games that kind of scares you ‘cause we’re hanging in there, hanging in there.

"Their goalie [Braden Holtby, 29 saves] is playing well and you just don’t want to let them steal the first one.

"So, it was a relief," he said.

It was also a relief to see Boston goaltender Tim Thomas (17 saves, shutout) reprise to his Conn Smythe form in just the first game of the playoffs, especially as Washington surged with nine third period shots.

"I thought we were sagging back quite a bit, letting them kind of dictate and just playing safe, I guess," said Corvo. "We weren’t really going into the scoring area so I thought it was a typical first game of a series.

After only mustering three shots on goal in the third, Kelly scored on Boston's only shot of the overtime.

"Usually teams come in and they depend on their goalie quite heavily and [Holtby] did well. It makes you nervous a little bit but we came out ahead in the end."