Swayman, Bruins defeat Capitals in shootout

WASHINGTON -- Jeremy Swayman made 18 saves in regulation, then stopped three shootout attempts for the Boston Bruins in a 3-2 win against the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena on Saturday.

Hampus Lindholm and John Beecher scored for the Bruins (43-17-5), who have won two of three and remained two points ahead of the Florida Panthers for first in the Atlantic Division. Kevin Shattenkirk scored the deciding goal in the fifth round of the shootout before Swayman stopped Connor McMichael’s attempt to end it.

“I think we had our moments there where we were losing a lot of these games a couple months ago going into overtimes, and either losing there or losing in shootouts,” Shattenkirk said. “So, I think it’s great to see us turn the corner and, obviously, taking strides there.”

Boston killed a four-minute power play in overtime after Lindholm was given a high-sticking double minor just 57 seconds into the extra period.

“It's just our three working harder than their four,” Swayman said. “I think the whole day, our team did a good job hounding pucks, keeping pucks below their red line. At the end of the day, our penalty kill came up with a win, so that's really exciting. Big momentum for us moving forward.”

John Carlson scored in his 1,000th NHL game for the Capitals (36-27-10), who have lost two in a row (0-1-1) after winning three straight. With the point and the Philadelphia Flyers 5-1 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks, Washington moved into third place in the Metropolitan Division, tied with the Flyers having played two fewer games.

“Anything can happen in this league,” Carlson said. “So, you bear down in every game, in every situation, and we showed some poise. It wasn't perfect tonight, but we showed some poise coming back and battling in it until the end and giving ourselves a chance to win. It would've been nice to win, but it showed a lot of guts from us tonight.”

Lindholm gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead at 18:47 of the first period when he scored with a wrist shot through traffic from the left point.

Michael Sgarbossa tied it 1-1 at 1:20 of the second period. He took a stretch pass from Nick Jensen and beat Swayman with a wrist shot from the right face-off circle.

“They were changing,” Sgarbossa said. “It was a good play by Jensen, good pass to get it up to me, and on the shot…it looked like the blocker was open, so I wanted to try that spot.”

Beecher put the Bruins ahead 2-1 at 2:22, intercepting Dylan Strome’s pass in the defensive zone and sliding a backhand between Lindgren’s pads on a breakaway.

“I was just trying to hold the dot line there in the D-zone,” Beecher said. “He tried slipping it through, it hit my foot and I was just able to get a step on him. I usually tend to go five-hole on the breakaways, and I was able to slip it through, so happy about it."

Carlson tied it 2-2 at 14:03 when he put in a cross-crease pass from Max Pacioretty at the left post on a power play.

“Sometimes when it gets a little stagnant, we like to switch and make them get a different look, make them change up their coverage or flip it, and ‘Patch’ made a good play to me,” Carlson said.

NOTES: Swayman (24-8-8) tied his career season-high for wins set in 2022-23. … Boston had 29 blocked shots, five by defenseman Brandon Carlo. … Carlson became the second player in Capitals history to score a goal in his 1,000th NHL game, joining Calle Johansson (March 19, 2001). … Capitals defenseman Rasmus Sandin was a late scratch because of a lower-body injury.