Capitals stay hot with 3-1 win over Bruins
BOSTON -- The Washington Capitals, who have already secured the Presidents' Trophy, continued their dominance of Boston with a 3-1 victory that left the Bruins' playoff seeding still up in the air on Saturday.
The Bruins, losing their second straight to end the regular season but in the playoffs for the first time in three years, knew when they hit the ice that they had lost any chance of home ice advantage in the first round after Ottawa beat the New York Rangers. But a win would have wrapped up the third seed and a series against Ottawa.
With the loss, the Bruins will play either the Senators or Capitals in the first round depending on the Toronto Maple Leafs' results in two weekend games. The Leafs needed at least three of a possible four points to pass Boston and play Ottawa.
The Capitals beat the Bruins for the ninth straight time, completing their third straight season series sweep. The overall leader in points has won four straight, 10 of its last 11 and gone 11-1-1 in their last 13. Washington will play Toronto or Boston in the first round.
The Caps have outscored the Bruins 30-11 in the nine straight wins.
Justin Williams had a goal and an assist and backup goaltender Philipp Grubauer (13-6-2) made 21 saves as the Caps answered a second-period Boston goal by Colin Miller with goal by Kevin Shattenkirk 56 seconds later.
Williams followed 3:01 later.
Marcus Johannsson scored the first Washington goal.
Anton Khudobin made 21 saves in two periods before leaving because of illness. He had his six-game winning streak stopped.
Bruins rookie defenseman Brandon Carlo left the game in the first period with an upper-body injury after he was crunched face-first into the boards by Alex Ovechkin.
Carlo was shaky as they led him off the ice. Ovechkin knocked Columbus defenseman Zach Werenski out of the game on a similar hit April 2 and Werenski is still out. There was no penalty on either play.
Drew Stafford assisted on the Boston goal for his 400th NHL point.
NOTES: C Jakob Forsbacka-Karlsson, signed recently by the Bruins, made his NHL debut because Brad Marchand is suspended and Noel Acciari is injured. ... Bruins D Torey Krug is out with a knee injury. ... Marchand and RW David Pastrnak both won two season awards pregame. ... The Caps, who host the Florida Panthers on Sunday, were missing D John Carlson (lower body) and RW Brett Connolly (illness). ... C Paul Carey, a Boston native, made his TD Garden debut for Washington. ... Tom Brady was at the game and shown on the big board. ... Washington D Brooks Orpik played in his 900th NHL game and LW Marcus Johansson played in his 500th, the latter all with the Caps. ... The Bruins held their "Shirts Off Their Backs" giveaway with the fans after the game.