Capitals continue surge, complete sweep of Bruins

[April 09, 2015]  WASHINGTON -- With his 27-save, 3-0 shutout over the Boston Bruins on Wednesday night, Washington Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby now shares a distinction with Hall of Fame netminders Glenn Hall and Terry Sawchuk.

Holtby became the first goalie to shut out the Bruins in an entire season series and the 10th netminder to record three shutouts against them in the same season.

Defensemen John Carlson and Matt Niskanen and left winger Marcus Johansson each scored goals for the Capitals, who swept the season series against the Bruins by a combined score of 9-0.

"We seem to play well against them," Holtby said after improving his record to 41-19-10. "I don't know if it is a coincidence or what. I think they're a team we've had a lot of respect for in the past. When the Bruins are our opponent it kind of gives us a little extra jump."

With the win, the Capitals (45-25-11, 101 points) moved three points ahead of the third-place New York Islanders in the Metropolitan Division standings. The Caps can clinch home ice with any combination of a point gained against the New York Rangers in their season finale on Saturday, or a point lost by the Islanders in their final two games against the Pittsburgh Penguins and Columbus Blue Jackets.

"I think the guys have really bought in," Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. "I've been really pleasantly surprised by what's here."

The Bruins (41-26-13, 95 points) are tied with the Ottawa Senators for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. Both teams have 95 points with two games to play.

The Bruins close out their regular season with road games against the Florida Panthers on Thursday and the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday, while the Senators finish with road games against the Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers. The Bruins own the first tiebreaker with two more regulation or overtime wins.

"We let them dictate the start of the game," Bruins center Patrice Bergeron said. "In a game like that you know we needed a lot more. It was definitely a disappointing start."

The Capitals, who rank third in the NHL in points by defensemen, grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals from Carlson and Niskanen. Carlson gave the Caps a 1-0 lead 4:49 into the game when he blasted a pass from center Nicklas Backstrom past goaltender Tuukka Rask's glove for his 12th goal.

Niskanen made it 2-0 on Washington's next shot, hammering another Backstrom pass off the stick of Boston defenseman Zach Trotman and behind Rask (30 saves) for his fourth goal of the season.

Holtby was tested in the second period when he stopped Bruins left winger Loui Eriksson on a 2-on-1 about 6 minutes into the period, then closed his pads to make a save on left winger Milan Lucic's breakaway.

The Capitals completed the scoring with 2:13 remaining in the second period when Johansson finished a beautiful feed from behind the net from rookie center Evgeny Kuznetsov for his career-high 20th goal of the season.

"We had four golden opportunities in the second period," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "And when you don't bury those chances your chances become real slim."

NOTES: Bruins D Dougie Hamilton (ribs) did not make the three-game road trip with the Bruins but could be cleared before the start of the playoffs if Boston gets there. The Capitals were without C Eric Fehr (upper body), C Jay Beagle (shoulder) and RW Tom Wilson (head) but all three are expected to be back for the playoffs. Because of the injuries, 23-year-old RW Stanislav Galiev made his NHL debut for the Capitals and played on an all-rookie fourth line with LW Andre Burakovsky and C Michael Latta. ... Bruins G Tuukka Rask tied a franchise record owned by Byron Dafoe (1998-99) with his 68th appearance of the season. Capitals G Braden Holtby played in his 72nd game of the season, one short of the franchise record set by Olie Kolzig in 1999-2000. ... The Bruins conclude their season-ending, three-game road trip with games against the Florida Panthers on Thursday night and the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday. The Capitals close out their regular season on Saturday afternoon at home against the New York Rangers.

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