The Boston Bruins pounced early and held off a furious rally by Washington to score a 3-2 win and send the slumping Capitals to an eighth successive loss on Saturday.
The Caps’ miserable run has dropped them to second place in the Southeast Division behind the Atlanta Thrashers, who moved top of the division with a 7-1 rout of the New Jersey Devils.
Andrew Ference ended his run of 99 games without a goal by notching a slap shot and Patrice Bergeron and Blake Wheeler each scored and had an assist as Boston opened a 3-0 lead in a first period.
PHOTO: AFP
“We did exactly what we weren’t supposed to do,” Bruins coach Claude Julien said. “We were supposed to keep taking it to them and ended up only playing a 40 minute game.”
Trailing 3-1 after a second-period goal by Matt Bradley, the Capitals outshot the Bruins 26-2 in the final period and drew to within one goal with five minutes, 28 seconds remaining on Karl Alzner’s strike.
“You outshoot a team 26-2 in the third period and you hopefully come through with more than a loss,” Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau said. “I really believed we were going to tie it tonight. You could feel it. [Boston goalie Tim] Thomas has beat an awful lot of teams with great stuff, and he did it to us.”
Thomas made several spectacular saves in the third period including a stop on Alex Ovechkin with just 10 seconds left to preserve the victory.
“Fortunately I was in one of those places in my head where I wasn’t overthinking it,” Thomas said. “I was just kind of going with the flow, which is helpful because if you start thinking, ‘Man, they’re really taking it to us,’ then that’s when they end up getting one.”
FLYERS 4, RANGERS 1
In Philadelphia, the NHL-leading Flyers made it five straight wins with a defeat of the New York Rangers on Saturday.
Nikolay Zherdev scored twice and Brian Boucher stopped 24 shots for the Flyers to be 6-0-1 in his past seven starts. Andreas Nodl and Ville Leino also got goals for Philadelphia.
Rookie Derek Stepan had the only goal for the Rangers, who have lost three in a row.
KINGS 6, PREDATORS 1
In Nashville, Tennessee, Los Angeles broke loose with four goals in the first period of a rout against Nashville.
The Predators’ season-high five-game winning streak was snapped and they failed to set a new -record for successive games with a point, finishing that run at a record--leveling 10.
Ryan Smyth scored twice, while Justin Williams, Trevor Lewis and Drew Doughty all scored for the Kings before the game was 10 minutes old. Alexei Ponikarovsky had the other goal for Los Angeles.
Steve Sullivan scored for Nashville.
STARS 2, BLUE JACKETS 1
In Columbus, Ohio, Dallas benefited from a controversial call to beat Columbus.
Brad Richards scored twice, netting the winner in the third period while both teams were a man down.
The referee waved off Derek Dorsett’s goal in the second period, saying Columbus’ Ethan Moreau interfered with goalie Kari Lehtonen outside the crease.
In other NHL play, it was:
‧ Sharks 4, Blues 1
‧ Hurricanes 4, Ducks 2
‧ Lightning 3, Sabres 1
‧ Canucks 4, Maple Leafs 1
‧ Wild 3, Flames 1
‧ Thrashers 7, Devils 1
‧ Coyotes 4, Islanders 3, SO
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