Washington Capitals vs Boston Bruins Match Player Stats On Jan 10, 2019

Alex Ovechkin scored two goals, and Nicklas Backstrom got the tiebreaker in the third period as the Washington Capitals defeated the host Boston Bruins 4-2 on Thursday night.

The Capitals won their third in a row overall and their 14th straight over the Bruins. They also stopped the Bruins' five-game winning streak.

Ovechkin, who leads the league with 32 goals, scored in the second period and added a long empty-net goal late.

The Bruins kept the pressure on Washington offensively throughout the game. They held a 41-22 edge in shots, but the Capitals prevailed as goalie Braden Holtby made 39 saves and improved to 16-2-0 versus the Bruins in his career.

Boston goalie Jaroslav Halak finished with 18 stops.

Washington took a 1-0 lead in the first period thanks to T.J. Oshie, who got the first of his two assists, and Jakub Vrana.

Oshie corralled a puck in the defensive zone, saw his teammate sneak behind the Boston defense and made a perfect pass that sprung Vrana for a breakaway. Vrana scored at 6:38.

Boston tied it with 5:49 left in the second period thanks to a Ryan Donato goal. Torey Krug fed him in the right circle, and Donato sent a wrist shot past Holtby.

That tie lasted just 39 seconds thanks to Tom Wilson and Ovechkin. Wilson got a loose puck behind the net and just to Halak's right. The right winger then fired off a quick pass to Ovechkin in front, and Ovechkin's wrist shot beat Halak for a 2-1 lead.

The Capitals took a bench minor early in the third period for having too many men on the ice, and the Bruins scored a power-play goal that tied it. David Krejci ripped a slap shot past Holtby from the right circle at 4:37.

Washington then took a 3-2 lead, again answering quickly thanks to Backstrom. Again, Oshie made the pass that gave Backstrom open ice, and the center scored on a long shot that got past Halak's glove 5:46 into the period.

Ovechkin then added the empty-net goal, which went from in front of Holtby all the way up the ice, for the 4-2 final.

--Field Level Media