Alex Ovechkin powers Capitals past Bruins

WASHINGTON -- Nicklas Backstrom had a goal and two assists to help the Washington Capitals to their eighth straight win at Verizon Center, 5-3 against the Boston Bruins on Wednesday.
T.J. Oshie, Alex Ovechkin, Brett Connolly and Evgeny Kuznetsov scored for Washington (34-11-6), which has won eight games in a row against Boston.
"We seem to play good against [the Bruins]," said Capitals goalie Braden Holtby, who made 30 saves. "They're a fun team to play against. I like teams that play hard, play hard in front of the net. It's an enjoyable game to play. We've had some success, but that's all in the past now. We just move forward."

WATCH: All Bruins vs. Capitals highlights
Brad Marchand scored two goals, and Tuukka Rask made 17 saves for Boston (26-22-6), which lost for the first time in four games.
It was Marchand's NHL-leading seventh multigoal game of the season, third in the past four games.
Bruins center Patrice Bergeron left the game with a leg injury at 2:33 of the third period after blocking a shot by Capitals defenseman Matt Niskanen near his right knee. He returned for a power play that began at 9:54 and played one more shift after that before leaving for good at 13:17.
Oshie scored on a breakaway at 3:06 of the first period to give Washington a 1-0 lead.
Backstrom scored on a rebound of a Niskanen shot at 13:34 of the first to put the Capitals up 2-0.
Marchand scored a power-play goal with 1:14 left in the first on a wrist shot from the high slot to make it 2-1.
Marchand's scored again on the power play at 2:49 of the second period off a pass from Ryan Spooner to tie it 2-2. It was his 23rd goal, tied for sixth in the League.
The Capitals scored the next three goals.

Ovechkin gave Washington a 3-2 lead when he scored on the power play with 15 seconds left in the second. It was his 25th goal of the season, third in the League behind Jeff Carter (26) Sidney Crosby (28), and 550th of his NHL career.
Connolly gave the Capitals a 4-2 lead at 3:49 of the third period, and Kuznetsov scored at 15:53 to make it 5-2.
It was Kuznetsov's 11th goal of the season, fifth in the past five games.
Bruins center David Krejci scored with 1:31 remaining to make it 5-3.
"We obviously didn't play the way that we have been 5-on-5 recently," Marchand said. "We just didn't seem to have the jump or the legs, and we weren't controlling the puck (the way) that we have 5-on-5 the last number of games. We have to get back to that."
Capitals forward Justin Williams did not play because of a lower-body injury. He is day to day.

Goal of the game

Backstrom fluttered a pass through several Bruins to Oshie, who skated slowly into the offensive zone, taking time to freeze Rask and sneak the puck between his pads.

Save of the game

Holtby gloved a streaking Bergeron's shot from the high slot at 7:14 of the second period to keep the score tied 2-2.

Highlight of the game

Spooner hit Marchand streaking from the high slot with a slick pass in front of the net, and Marchand went top shelf for his second goal of the night.

Unsung performance of the game

Niskanen had two assists, a plus-1 rating, three shots on goal, two hits and a blocked shot in 22:13.

They said it

"I feel we played well. We don't give them nothing at first. We knew they were going to play physical, they're going to play tight, and I think we managed their game and [didn't] give them any chances." -- Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin
"Some guys have to step up and give us some offense here. Our power play's good, it's scoring goals, but 5-on-5 we definitely have to be better. You can't just rely on one line to score you goals every night. Some guys have to step up in that department and start giving us a little bit more 5-on-5." -- Bruins coach Claude Julien

Need to know

Ovechkin moved past Ron Francis into 27th place on the NHL all-time goals list. The goal was his 205th on the power play in the NHL, moving past Wayne Gretzky and tying Joe Sakic for 14th on the League's all-time list.… Marchand is the first Bruins player with three multigoal games in a span of four games since Cam Neely from Jan. 8-15, 1992.

What's next

Bruins: Host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; CBC, CITY, NESN, NHL.TV)
Capitals:At the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday (1 p.m. ET; SN, RDS, CSN-DC, NHL.TV)