Bruins defeat Capitals, set NHL single-season points record

BOSTON --The Boston Bruins set the NHL single-season points record with a 5-2 win against the Washington Capitals at TD Garden on Tuesday.

Boston (64-12-5), which has won seven in a row, has 133 points, one more than the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens (60-8 with 12 ties).
"The Montreal team that we surpassed only played 80 games. I think the [63] wins in 80 games is a little more significant, but it's a good year," Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. "I care more that we're playing the right way."
Brad Marchand had a goal and two assists, Tomas Nosek had a goal and an assist, and David Pastrnak had two assists for the Bruins.
"If we don't go all the way, [the record] means nothing," Nosek said. "I will recognize it more as time goes on, [but] not right now."
Linus Ullmark made 19 saves for his 40th win of the season but left midway through the third period after colliding with his right post. Jeremy Swayman made six saves in relief.
"It was just a precaution," Montgomery said. "… Just some muscle tightening, that's all."
Tom Wilson and Nick Jensen scored for Washington (35-37-9), which has lost seven of its past eight games (1-6-1). Charlie Lindgren made 33 saves but also left early in the third period with an undisclosed injury after making an acrobatic save. Darcy Kuemper allowed one goal on seven shots in relief.
"[Lindgren] was amazing tonight," Jensen said. "There [were] definitely a few times that, me personally, I'm sure other people felt, we could help him out a little more, but he kept us in that game huge, and it was tough to see him go down like that with how well he was playing."

Marchand gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead at 8:32 of the second period, scoring on a one-timer from the bottom of the right circle on a power play. It was his first goal since March 9 (17 games).
"You almost have to laugh about it," Marchand said. "It's one of those things. I think it gets frustrating, but then it gets to a point where it's just laughable. … I have much better, bigger expectations, but at the same time, we're winning a lot of games and we're having a lot of fun."

Tyler Bertuzzi scored another power-play goal to make it 2-0 at 14:20, burying the rebound of Pastrnak's shot from the slot.
"I've kind of been there my whole career," Bertuzzi said. "Just being hard-nosed at the net front, trying to get a screen or a tip on it and just being gritty around there."
Jensen cut it to 2-1 at 15:27 of the second when his shot from the high slot deflected in off the knee of Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy.
"Their power-play goals didn't help," Capitals coach Peter Laviolette said. "Right off the bat, they catch two, and I thought [Jensen] had a big goal just to push it within one and get it back going in the other direction, and just a couple mistakes ended up costing us."
Nosek pushed it to 3-1 at 4:13 of the third period, scoring blocker side from the high slot after he intercepted an errant pass from Capitals forward Nicolas Aube-Kubel.
Wilson cut it to 3-2 at 7:13, swatting in a loose puck in the low slot on a power play, but Garnet Hathaway tapped in a backdoor pass from Nosek 36 seconds later to make it 4-2 at 7:49.
Jake DeBrusk scored an empty-net goal at 18:11 for the 5-2 final.
"I think we've been a tough team to play against the last couple nights," Wilson said. "We've been giving it our all, and we've put some pretty good teams to the test and made them work. We're taking pride in our game and just trying to leave it out there. Coming into this building against a really good team, we stuck with it for most of the night, and we just couldn't get it done."
NOTES:Laviolette did not have an update on Lindgren. … Ullmark is 40-6-1 in 49 games (48 starts) this season, becoming the first goaltender in NHL history to get 40 wins in fewer than 50 games. Braden Holtby (52 games with Washington in 2015-16) held the previous record. … Capitals forward Dylan Strome had an assist to extend his point streak to five games (five goals, two assists).