Washington, DC (Sports Network) - Tim Thomas stopped 35-of-36 shots and Milan Lucic added a goal and one assist as Boston downed Washington, 3-1, in the front end of a home-and-home series at Verizon Center.
Bruins End Long Road Trip In Style, Downing Caps, 3-1
David Krejci posted a goal and a helper and Matt Hunwick also tallied for the Bruins, who ended their season-opening road swing at 4-1.
Marcus Johansson notched his first NHL goal for the Capitals, whose four-game win streak was halted.
Michal Neuvirth took the loss although he was pulled after playing nearly 13 minutes and allowing two goals on seven shots. Semyon Varlamov yielded one score on 14 shots the rest of the way.
Hunwick drilled a shot by Varlamov at the 2:08 mark of the third period and the Bruins led 3-1.
Washington had a goal wiped out at the midway point of the third, when Alex Ovechkin was ruled to have knocked in an airborne puck from a John Carlson point drive with his gloved hand.
The Caps got a break when Bruins forward Gregory Campbell was given a double- minor for high sticking with 1:20 remaining, but the home team couldn't muster much offense despite a 6-on-4 advantage.
Boston took a 1-0 lead at the 9:12 mark of the first as Krejci finished off a 2-on-1 by tipping home a Nathan Horton pass inside the left post.
Lucic doubled the advantage less than three minutes later as he faked a shot in the right circle, pulled Neuvirth toward him, and slipped the puck along the ice and in.
Despite failing to capitalize on a brief two-man advantage early in the second, the Capitals halved their deficit at 7:42 as Jason Chimera fed Johansson for a tap-in.
The Bruins finally return home from their long road trip by hosting Washington on Thursday. Boston’s intercontinental journey began in Northern Ireland for the end of their exhibition schedule, then wound up in the Czech Republic for two games with Phoenix to start the regular season, then came to Newark and Washington, DC...It was the Capitals’ first loss since a season-opening defeat in Atlanta...Thomas has won his first three starts of a season for the first time in his career...Johansson was Washington’s first-round pick (24th overall) in the 2009 draft.
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