Matthew Phillips scored with 55.4 seconds left in overtime to lift the Washington Capitals to a 5-4 victory over the Bruins on Tuesday, dropping Boston’s preseason record to 1-2-2.

There were some good things and bad things, chief of which was the B’s play in the own end, though coach Jim Montgomery isn’t overly concerned with that yet, considering the amount of experimenting he’s been doing.

The best part of the night was the continued growth of young centerman Matt Poitras. Matching up against Evgeni Kuznetsov much of the night, he had his hands full at times, especially playing in the second half of a back-to-back, playing over 17 minutes on Monday and over 18 minutes on Tuesday. But with the B’s trailing in the third period, he made a great individual move to tie the game.

“Overall, he competed, right?” said Montgomery. “What you like is he lost some battles but he comes back and wins battles. That was a big goal he scored to tie it up. And he continues to show a lot of poise with the puck.”

Poitras doesn’t know if he made the team or not, but was content in feeling he’s done the best he could.

“I thnk I’ve played pretty well and I’ve done everything I can so I think I made it pretty difficult on them,” said Poitras, who won 10-of-17 draws.

Crowd favorite Milan Lucic responded well in his first game as a Bruin on Garden ice since 2015, scoring a goal and picking up a helper.

“To be honest it was nice to be back on that bench and in this room and walking out with the dark colors,” said Lucic. “To be honest, I was kind of nervous and had a little anxiety on the first shift. And to be able to make a play on a goal right off the bat took a lot of butterflies away.”

Lucic played on an effective line with Jakub Lauko and center John Beecher, who has made a good push for the fourth line center job. Beecher had four hits and four takeaways while finishing 7-for-13 in the faceoff dot.

“I thought he was really good. I thought he won a lot of battles that created offense and he got a lot of good offense from defense, which was really encouraging to see. He played a really good hockey game,” said Montgomery.

In a very preseason-like opening period, five goals were scored, including two in the first minute, and the Caps took a 3-2 lead into the first break.

Poitras lost a faceoff in his own zone and Connor McMichael scored off a rebound, lifting a backhander over Linus Ullmark’s glove just 26 seconds in.

But the B’s got one back 27 seconds later when David Pastrnak fed James van Riemsdyk off the rush for his first goal as a Bruin. Less then two minutes later, Lucic fed Mason Lohrei for the rookie defenseman’s first goal of the preseason and the B’s had a 2-1 lead.

The Caps evened it up on the power play when Evgeni Kuznetsov dished to Tom Wilson in the slot and, after the van Riemsdyk-Pavel Zacha-Pastrnak line flubbed a promising chance in the offensive zone, Sonny Milano gave the Caps the lead when his backhander beat Ullmark high to the far side.

The B’s tied it in the second on Lucic’s unpretty but effective tally. After mushing the puck out of the defensive zone and into the Caps’ end, Lucic eventually fired a shot that deflected off Milano’s stick and past Darcy Keumper.

The B’s took a late penalty and at the start of the third period, the Caps took the lead again with John Carlson’s slapper going off Lohrei past Ullmark.

The best Bruin moment of the night came at 4:57 of the third. Poitras, who’d had his hands full much of the night, took a feed from Brad Marchand in the right corner. He made a nice move to lose Kuznetsov and headed straight to the net, beating Keumper over the shoulder for the equalizer.

In the OT, the B’s barely touched the puck until Phillips ended it with less than a minute left.

*Poitras is the most interesting prospect pushing for a job.He certainly seems to have the talent to at least one day to play in the NHL, but Montgomery said that’s not the only consideration when keeping a teenager.

Marchand, who skated on a line with Poitras on Tuesday, has been duly impressed by the kid, comparing him at one point to Toronto Maple Leaf star Mitch Marner with the way he’s smart on both sides of the puck and has great vision and poise.

“He’s a smart player,” said Marchand. “He definitely has had a really good camp so far. I played with him the other night and he sees the ice very well. He’s competitive, he’s not scared to go in the corners and to go in the tough areas. He’s definitely shown a lot of promise. He’s definitely had a great camp so far, but he’s got to keep it going.”

“For me, my games always been based around winning 50-50 battles, so I’ve never been scared to go in a corner with a bigger guy and I feel like I do a good job of coming out with the puck for the most part,” said Poitras. “I think just being able to do that it keeps plays alive in the offensive zone, which is where I want to play. It’s more fun down there.”

While much about his game is precocious, he couldn’t hide the fact he’s still very much a kid when Marchand’s Marner comparison was brought up to him.

“That’s pretty cool. It’s a good compliment,” said Poitras, grinning ear to ear. “Yeah, that’s cool.”

The B’s sent Fabian Lysell and Mike Callahan to Providence. Prior to the announcement, Montgomery did not give a glowing assessment of Lysell, the B’s first-round pick two years ago.

“I think Lysell’s had moments where he’s been good, and he’s had moments where he’s struggled,” said Montgomery. “He’s drafted to be a skilled, offensive player and, in order to be a skilled, offensive player, you’ve got to produce. And we haven’t seen the production yet.”

The B’s placed on waivers Alec Regula, Daniel Renouf, Anthony Richard, Reilly Walsh and Parker Wotherspoon. Meanwhile, goalie Kyle Keyser cleared waivers. Montgomery expects to make more cuts in the next day or two to get down to one practice group. He still has some tough decisions to make.

“There are a lot of guys fighting for jobs and some guys are making it hard. That’s healthy,” said Montgomery.