Capitals end Bruins' winning streak
WASHINGTON -- Nicklas Backstrom had a goal and two assists, Braden Holtby made 29 saves and the Washington Capitals defeated the Boston Bruins 5-3 at Verizon Center Wednesday night, snapping Boston's three-game winning streak.
Alex Ovechkin gave Washington a 3-2 lead late in the second period, and Brett Connolly made it 4-2 at 3:29 of the third when he scored against his former team.
Evgeny Kuznetsov, named the NHL's "First Star" of the month for January on Monday, put Washington up 5-2 with 4:07 remaining to go along with an assist. He has six goals in his last seven games.
T.J. Oshie also had a goal and an assist for the NHL points leaders. Matt Niskanen added two assists for the Capitals (34-11-6).
Brad Marchand scored two power-play goals and had an assist for Boston (26-22-6), and David Krejci scored with 1:31 left to play. Marchand, the NHL's "Second Star" of the month for January, has 23 goals on the season and six in his last four games.
David Pastrnak had three assists and Tuukka Rask, playing the second night in a row, stopped 17 shots.
The Capitals have won eight straight at home, outscoring the opposition by a combined total of 40-12 during the streak.
Washington took a 1-0 lead at 3:06 when Backstrom threaded a pass between two Bruins and sent Oshie in on a breakaway. Oshie didn't miss as he put a low shot between Rask's pads for his 19th of the season.
Backstrom made it 2-0 at 13:34 of the period. Rask made a pad save on a blast from Niskanen, but Backstrom banged home the rebound from the slot.
Boston cut the deficit in half on a power play. Patrice Bergeron fed Marchand in the slot and he fired over Holtby's shoulder with 1:14 left in the first.
Early in the second period, Boston got another power play opportunity when Kuznetsov was called for tripping in the offensive zone.
The Bruins cashed in on a pretty tic-tac-toe passing sequence as Pastrnak sent the puck across ice to Ryan Spooner, who fed it to a wide-open Marchand on the doorstep. Marchand tapped it in to tie the score at 2:49 of the period.
It appeared the teams would enter the third period tied, but with Boston's Brandon Carlo off for holding, Ovechkin wristed a shot past Rask from the left circle for his 25th of the season with 15 seconds remaining in the second.
NOTES: Washington RW Justin Williams missed Wednesday's game because of a lower body injury. The team said he is day-to-day. ... Capitals C Evgeny Kuznetsov was named the NHL's "First Star" for the month of January, the league announced Wednesday. Kuznetsov tied for first in the NHL with 20 points (seven goals, 13 assists) in 15 games in January. ... Bruins LW Brad Marchand was named the league's "Second Star" for January. He led the NHL with 11 goals and added nine assists for 20 points in 14 games. ... Washington re-assigned D Christian Djoos to the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League (AHL). ... Boston recalled G Zane McIntyre from the Providence Bruins of the AHL and assigned G Anton Khudobin to Providence.