The Washington Capitals ended a three game slide to earn their 48th win of the regular season in a 4-3 win over the Boston Bruins at TD Garden. Top NCAA hockey player Ryan Leonard made his NHL debut and Alex Ovechkin scored to bring himself to four away from becoming the League's all time leading scorer.
Back on track
Nic Dowd struck first at 13:32 with a shorthanded goal for his 13th of the season. Brandon Duhaime had the helper for his 11th. Then at 15:43, Alex Ovechkin struck on the power play for his 38th goal of the season.
Dylan Strome had his 48th assist on the play while John Carlson picked up his 42nd. 2-0 was the score after one with the Caps leading in shots 11-4.
In the second period the Bruins responded. Vinni Lettieri scored at 6:05. Then David Pastrnak tied it with a PPG at 17:12. The Bruins led in shots 9-6 in the middle frame.
In the third period Strome gave the Caps the lead at 10:37 for his 24th of the season. Aliaksei Protas picked up his 36th assist while Martin Fehervary added his 20th.
At 14:46, Tom Wilson added his 32nd goal of the season to make it a 4-2 game. Pierre-Luc Dubois had his 44th assist while Ovechkin notched his 27th helper on the season.
Pastrnak made it interesting at 15:13 with his 37th of the season, just one behind Ovi. That would be as close as the Bruins would get as Charlie Lindgren picked up the win in net with 21 saves for an .875 save percentage.
The Caps outshot the Bruins 15-11 in the third period and 32-24 overall. Caps went one for two on the power play while the B's went one for three . Bruins outhit the Caps 20-17. Caps had the edge in blocked shots 15-13. The Caps had 13 giveaways while the Bruins had 12. Boston had eight takeaways while Washington had one.
The Caps are back in action on Wednesday night with a big test against the Carolina Hurricanes. Puck drop for that contest is at 7 p.m. You can catch the game on Monumental Sports Network as well as TNT, truTV, and MAX.