Capitals Beat Bruins 3-2
BOSTON -- The Washington Capitals took over the top spot in the NHL standings with a 3-2 victory over the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night.
Center Evgeny Kuznetsov scored one goal and set up another and Braden Holtby stopped 25 shots for the Capitals, who are 10-1-1 in their last 12 games. Washington (29-7-3) passed the Dallas Stars, who lost Tuesday to the New York Rangers, for No. 1 in the league's overall standings.
Kuznetsov, who has five points in the last four games, set up left winger Andre Burakovsky's opening goal, then scored his own goal, his 13th, to give Washington a 2-0 lead in the second period. Left winger Marcus Johansson also scored for the Capitals.
Right winger Loui Eriksson center Patrice Bergeron scored for the Bruins.
The Bruins (20-14-4), coming off a lackluster performance in a 5-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens in the Winter Classic, lost for the fifth time in six games.
Adam Jones' Plus/Minus From B's Loss:
Holtby improved to 9-2 lifetime against the Bruins.
The Capitals, who swept four games from the Bruins by a combined 13-1 count last season, improved to 13-0 when leading after one period and to 20-0-1 when ahead after two.
Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask made 26 saves in the losing effort.
The Capitals took a 1-0 at 15:01 when Kuznetsov worked his magic in the corner before finding Burakovsky breaking down the left side. Burakovsky buried his fourth of the season.
Kuznetsov beat Rask with a wicked top-shelf wrist shot on the power play and it was 2-0 before Eriksson's 14th of the year got the Bruins, blanked three times in as many games by Holtby last season, on the board off a nifty pass from right winger Brett Connolly.
Dave Goucher & Bob Beers on Bruins' Loss To Capitals:
Johansson scored on a rebound in the third period to give his team a 3-1 lead, but Bergeron scored a power-play goal at 11:52 to make it close.
Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid left the game in the second period after a hit from Washington center Zach Sill. No penalty was called on the play and it appeared McQuaid, who had already given out a tough hit in the corner and taken a puck to the face on the shift, was knocked out cold. He was helped to his feet and made his way to the dressing room, but did not return.
NOTES: C Joonas Kemppainen returned to the Bruins lineup after missing 11 games with an upper-body injury. "It's been a long four weeks that I've had to sit out," he said. ... Capitals G Braden Holtby was named the NHL's "Second Star" for December, going 9-0-1. ... RW David Pastrnak returned from the World Junior Championships, where he suffered a minor finger injury and was sent back to Providence. He hasn't played for Boston since suffering a broken foot Oct. 31. ... Capitals RW Stanislav Galiev dressed for the first time in 10 games and for just the eighth game this season. ... A scoring change gave the Bruins' lone goal in the Winter Classic to D Adam McQuaid, his first goal of the year. LW Matt Beleskey had been credited with a tip-in, but the puck was ruled to have gone in off the stick of Montreal C Alex Galchenyuk. ... Bruins LW Brad Marchand sat the second game of his three-game suspension.
