Swayman helps Bruins defeat Capitals

WASHINGTON -- Jeremy Swayman won a second consecutive start to begin his NHL career, making 31 saves for the Boston Bruins in a 4-2 win against the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena on Thursday.

He made 40 saves in his NHL debut, a 4-2 win against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday.
"I think my mindset doesn't change as far as wanting to win and doing whatever I can to help my team win," Swayman said. "[The] NHL, that's everything, and it's a big deal, and this team is obviously a good one to be a part of, and I'm just enjoying every second I can while I can."

Brad Marchand scored a shorthanded goal and had an assist for the Bruins (21-10-6), who are 3-0-1 in their past four games.
Alex Ovechkin scored his 266th power-play goal, passing Brett Hull for No. 2 in NHL history behind Dave Andreychuk (274), and T.J. Oshie had a goal and an assist for the Capitals (25-11-4), who have lost four of six.
John Carlson had two assists, and Ilya Samsonov made 28 saves for Washington, which fell behind 3-0 early in the second period.
"In the second and in the third [periods], we started playing a little more simple out of our zone, a little more simple out of the neutral zone, and we found ourselves in their zone a lot more," Carlson said, "and I think that is a mentality thing that we've talked about and obviously need to improve on."
The teams play again here Saturday.
The Bruins took a 1-0 lead 33 seconds into the first period when Jeremy Lauzon's shot from the left point trickled behind Samsonov and over the goal line.
Swayman stopped Garnet Hathaway with the blocker on a breakaway at 9:17.
Anton Blidh made it 2-0 at 16:02. Washington defenseman Justin Schultz attempted to send the puck behind the Capitals net, but it took a strange bounce toward the front of the net, where Blidh tucked it in.
"You get a really tough bounce off the stanchion for the second goal, so we leave that period and that score," Capitals coach Peter Laviolette said. "But what bothers me more about it is the chances that they generated from our execution or doing the right thing as we're crossing the red line, and then immediately [it] turns back and it comes back into our end, we're playing defense."

Marchand increased the lead to 3-0 at 4:09 of the second period. He entered the zone on a 2-on-1 with Patrice Bergeron, eluded the sliding Schultz and crossed the slot before scoring on a backhand. It was Marchand's second shorthanded goal in two games and the 30th of his NHL career.
Asked about his poise around the net, Marchand said, "I think a lot of it I've kind of always had. I think the biggest thing that really separates guys from the junior levels to college to the American [Hockey] League to the NHL is being able to translate it to higher speeds. I think it might've just taken me a little bit of time to be able to do it at this level. But it's something I work a lot on too."
Washington took advantage of a 5-on-3 power play to score twice in a 19-second span of the second. With Blidh already off for a double minor, Jakub Zboril was called for interference at 10:04. Ovechkin scored on a one-timer from the top of the left face-off circle to cut it to 3-1 at 10:08, and Oshie's one-timer from the left circle made it 3-2 at 10:27.
"He shouldn't have got upset because they were good shots," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said of Swayman. "But he could've started second-guessing himself, right? That, 'Hey maybe I should have made those saves and I let a lead get away, and now what?' ... Simply put, I think he just worries about making the next save, which is a great mentality to have at any position, but particularly a goaltender."
Craig Smith made it 4-2 with a power-play goal from the right circle at 16:55 of the third period.
"There's not going to be [any] easy games the rest of the way here," Capitals defenseman Brenden Dillon said. "It's a tight schedule. Whether we're in two back-to-backs or whatever it is, three in four (days), every team is going through it. We can't use that as an excuse. We've just got to tighten up and get back to the winning ways."
NOTES: Ovechkin's goal was his 20th of the season; he has scored that many in each of his 16 NHL seasons. … The Capitals hadn't allowed a power-play goal in their previous five games and killed 15 straight penalties before Smith scored.