Capitals beat Bruins for 10th straight time
BOSTON -- The Washington Capitals continued their dominance of the Boston Bruins Saturday night.
Tom Wilson scored his first two goals of the season and Braden Holtby stopped 31 shots, powering the Capitals to a 3-2 victory, their 10th straight win over Boston dating back to 2014.
Alexander Ovechkin, stopped on a breakaway by Tuukka Rask, came right back and beat the Bruins goaltender with a patented one-timer to give Washington (7-6-1) a 2-0 lead in the first period.
Wilson, scoring his first goals in 11 career games against Boston, opened the scoring and then, after David Pastrnak scored the first of his two goals, made it 3-1 late in the second period.
Holtby, 12-2-0 lifetime against the Bruins, came up with the big stops when needed to go to 7-3-0 on the season.
Pastrnak scored a power-play goal from an impossible angle -- his eighth goal of the season -- with 2:32 left to make it 3-2. The Bruins then put the pressure on but couldn't tie the game.
Wilson was stopped on a short-handed break-in and then the rebound by Rask, who fell to 1-10-5 lifetime against the Caps despite keeping his team in the game with 24 saves. He fell to 2-4-2 on the season, with one win in his last seven starts.
The Bruins (5-4-3) had a six-game points streak (3-0-3). They had four power plays -- two of them on a double minor to Brooks Orpik -- in the third period and got that one late goal.
Boston was able to keep Nicklas Backstrom off the score sheet, ending his nine-game points streak against the Bruins. The Caps are still 19-0 when Backstrom has at least one point against Boston.
Ovechkin ended a five-game goal-less streak and has 42 points in 43 games against the Bruins.
NOTES: Referee Chris Rooney, who hails from South Boston, worked his 1,000th NHL game and received gifts from both teams in a pre-game ceremony -- after his two kids came out and skated with the officials in full refs' garb. ... Bruins LW Brad Marchand, who missed practice Friday to rest a lower body injury, played. ... LW Liam O'Brien, who played 13 games with the Caps two years ago and one last season, made his season debut. "He brings a little bit of bite to his game," said Caps coach Barry Trotz. ... C Lars Eller set up the first goal of the game and has seven points in the last four games. ... Washington D John Carlson came into the game second in the NHL in playing time at 27:02 and logged 29:18 Saturday. ... The Capitals host the Arizona Coyotes and the Bruins the Minnesota Wild Monday night.