Ovechkin helps Capitals to 14th straight victory against Bruins

BOSTON -- The Washington Capitals extended their winning streak against the Boston Bruins to 14 games with a 4-2 victory at TD Garden on Thursday.

Alex Ovechkin scored twice, and Jakub Vrana and Nicklas Backstrom scored for the Capitals (27-12-4), who haven't lost to the Bruins since March 29, 2014, at Washington. Braden Holtby made 39 saves for Washington, which has won three in a row.
The Capitals won despite being outshot 41-22.
WATCH: [All Capitals vs. Bruins highlights]
"They worked to generate what they got," Holtby said of Boston, which went 1-for-5 on the power play. "Obviously their power play was where they got probably their best opportunities. But like I said about shot totals, you never really tell. But two good teams and I think probably tonight they deserved to win as much as we did, that's how good the game was. That's fun hockey to play."

Ryan Donato and David Krejci scored, and Jaroslav Halak made 18 saves for the Bruins (25-15-4), who had won a season-high five games in a row.
"I thought we certainly gave ourselves a chance to win the game," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. "Didn't happen again against this team, so [we] have to get over that hurdle. A lot of nights that'd be good enough for points, if not two points, but not tonight."
Vrana gave Washington a 1-0 lead on a breakaway at 6:38 of the first period. T.J. Oshie got the first of his two assists by making a long pass to Vrana after a steal.
Donato tied it 1-1 with a wrist shot from the right face-off circle at 14:11 of the second period.

Washington regained the lead 2-1 on Ovechkin's goal at 14:50. Tom Wilson made a pass out from below the goal line, and Ovechkin scored on a one-timer from the left circle.
Krejci's power-play goal tied it 2-2 at 4:37 of the third period. The center scored on a slap shot from the top of the right circle through traffic.
The Bruins again weren't able to keep the score tied for long Backstrom scored at 5:46 to give the Capitals a 3-2 lead. Backstrom took a wrist shot from the top of the left circle on the rush and beat Halak to the far post.
"It's frustrating," Boston forward Brad Marchand said. "When you get back in the game like that you want to try to stay with that momentum, and it seemed like every time we got a goal there they scored right after. So it's tough to win when you do that. But we had a good game. I mean we could've easily won that game, their goalie had a lot of good saves, but that's how it goes sometimes."
Ovechkin scored an empty-net goal with 1:35 remaining for the 4-2 final.

They said it

"I don't know, I feel like we're so spoiled with our goaltenders, and especially with [Holtby], that I can't tell you why he plays as good as he does and why there's been a little bit more success here. He's just a great goaltender, he really battles, he's so smart and this place has some pretty cool history, maybe he gets up a little bit for it." -- Capitals forward T.J. Oshie on goalie Braden Holtby, who has won 12 in a row against Boston
"I think there's no really good reason. I just heard about it before the game, but it's nothing you think about. You think about Boston, a great, top team and hard team to play against and a hard building to come in here to play. So I think every time you play them you know it's going to be a tough game. … It's just fortunate for us we've been able to be successful against them." -- Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom on the 14-game winning streak against the Bruins
"It went in. It was just one of those shots, top of the circle kind of low glove. So I just need to make a save on that one and it could have been still 2-2 and we would still be in the game. … So tough sequence, but I just need to be better I guess. The next game I get a chance, hopefully down the road I can help the guys." -- Bruins goalie Jaroslav Halak on allowing Nicklas Backstrom's go-ahead goal

Need to know

With his second goal, Ovechkin passed Bobby Hull for 50th on the NHL points list with 1,171. Ovechkin has 639 goals, one behind Dave Andreychuk for 14th. He leads the NHL with 32 goals. … The Capitals have won their past seven games here. Boston's last home win against Washington was March 6, 2014.

What's next

Capitals: Host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, NBCSWA, FS-O, NHL.TV)
Bruins: At the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, CBC, SN1, CITY, NESN, NHL.TV)