Was there a game so far this season where a win is much more than a win? A game with so many subplots as Saturday night’s showdown with the NHL-best Washington Capitals?

A win would put Claude Julien at the top of most wins in team history with 388, eclipsing Art Ross’s all-time 387.

A win would put the Black and Gold at .500 at home for the first time this season.

A win would make three straight at TD Garden for the first time this season.

A win would add some space between Boston and the wildcard contingent.

Raise your hand if you thought even a few of the aforementioned were possible a month ago. Now raise your hand if you think the Boston Bruins are moving closer to a lock for post-season play. March is becoming a good month to keep that momentum humming.

Despite the 2-1 OT loss to the best team in the league, the Bruins took three of four points against the two best teams in the league – five of six in March so far. Here’s what we learned after one of the most important games in the 82-game schedule.

Send a thank-you note to the scheduling gods

 While it balances out across all NHL scheduling, these last three games this week brought Calgary, Chicago and Washington to Causeway Street on the back end of road games each. No doubt that factor benefitted Boston at a very opportune time. Hand it to the Black and Gold for taking full advantage in getting five of a possible six points.

“I thought our guys played hard,” Julien said after. “Two elite teams in a row, and we’ve played pretty decently.”

Power play goes flat but defense keeps rolling

 Patrice Bergeron’s first goal (26^th overall) put Boston up, 1-0, at 7:11 of the opening period.

Alex Ovechkin was serving five for boarding Kevan Miller midway through the second period when Tom Wilson was whistled for interference on Bergeron to give Boston a 5 on 3 for two minutes. They did everything but score with most of the play on Grubauer’s doorstep.

“We hit a couple of posts, had our chances,” Julien summed about that lost opportunity. “It didn’t go in for us.”

“Five-on-three we’ve got to find a way to bear down and score a goal,” Bergeron said. “That would have been huge for us, obviously.”

Miller did not return, and Claude Julien mentioned that Miller might have been hospital bound.

Washington broke through Rask at 13:08 when Karl Alzner put a backdoor rebound of an Ovechkin shot to tie the game at 1-1.

A Boston power play at 16:25 went for naught. Ditto three minutes into the third. With five minutes left, each team traded penalties without breaking the deadlock, making Boston 0-5 on the man advantage.

OT

Not too many teams the Bruins want to make a habit of meeting in overtime; Washington being atop that list. It was pretty even until Matt Niskanen fired a clean bullet at 2:26 from 40 feet out at the right point.

“Washington’s a team that doesn’t need a lot of chances,” Julien said. “They’re just so good at burying them, and they showed that tonight. They had that one chance there in the overtime, and they made the most of it.”

“I was just kind of chilling, hanging there,” Rask said about the game-winning goal. “The guy, he got the Ladies’ tees – I wasn’t ready for that shot, went through me. Tough goal, but it happens.”

Those goaltending dynamics

 Thursday night, Chicago started backup Scott Darling. Saturday night, the Bruins did not face Braden Holtby after Washington’s Friday night loss at Madison Square Garden.

Holtby owned the Bruins while Washington owned Tuukka Rask, who was 1-8-3 lifetime vs. the ‘Caps. Washington started backup Philipp Grubauer with his 7-5-1 record this season and a 2.10 GAA in his first career start vs. Boston.

Rask’s best save was at 4:28 of the second period when he stoned Evgeny Kuznetsov one on one with a glove save to preserve the one-goal lead.

He finished with 25 saves in regulation and still but one win lifetime vs. Washington, while Grubauer got his first win in his first start.

“One point,” Rask said. “We’ll take it, but too bad we didn’t win.”

GM Don done good

 Don Sweeney took his lumps for not getting the Loui Eriksson situation settled– and not bringing in any high-impact players for the playoff push. With major economic factors likely facing the NHL next season and few teams willing to wade into long-term deals with players like Eriksson, Sweeney keeps Eriksson’s until the last game of the season and scoops New Jersey’s leading scorer in Lee Stempniak (43 points) with his $850,000 salary (he’ll sign for short money and end his NHL career in Boston) and John-Michael Liles. With three No. 1 picks last June and two this June, Sweeney is creating the necessary balance of core veterans and emerging young talent into the next 3-5 years.

Both Stempniak and Liles contributed significantly in Thursday’s win over Chicago. Stempniak with two assists and a plus-2 in 16:26 ice time; Liles an assist and even plus-minus in 19:39. Those blue-line minutes will be needed to reduce the load on Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg in the last 17 games, not to mention the possibility of losing Miller.

“When you play for the Bruins you sort of see the way they are and the way they approach the game,” Stempniak offered. “They’ve been a very successful team for a long time and I think a lot of that stems from the leadership and the style they play and the coaching staff because they’ve been here for a while.”

Saturday night Stempniak assisting on Boston’s lone goal in 15:21 of ice time; Liles playing 21:38.

Krug snake-bitten

 “I haven’t scored in a while,” Torey Krug said. “But that’s a good test for your character and trying to respond and still having faith. It’s, like I said, right time right place it’ll happen.”

It hasn’t happened in 40 games. Krug, with out a goal dating back to December 5, it appeared that dubious streak ended when he followed a David Pastrnak shot with a rebound past Grubauer at 3:13 of the second period. However, a Barry Trotz challenge for offside was upheld – and Krug’s streak continues.

It was the second disallowed goal for Krug since December 5.

South bound and still flying high

 The Bruins head to the Sunshine State at 4-1-1 in their last six games with games Monday and Tuesday against the Atlantic Division teams a notch ahead — and a good possibility they come back to TD Garden Thursday against Carolina in second place in their division.

“Every team is so close and every team has good players,” Brad Marchand said. “It’s just a matter of who’s willing to push a little extra to win the battles and compete a little harder each game and I think we have that kind of character in here.”

Sixteen games to go.