Bruins 0 - 3 Capitals
Final
  for this game

Holtby, Caps shut down Bruins for 3rd time

Apr 9, 2015 - 4:27 AM Washington, DC (SportsNetwork.com) - Braden Holtby turned aside all 27 shots he faced and pulled into a tie alongside Montreal's Carey Price and Pittsburgh's Marc-Andre Fleury with an NHL-best ninth shutout of the season, and Washington topped Boston by a 3-0 count on Wednesday at Verizon Center.

Holtby finished the year blanking the Bruins three times, stopping 88-of-88 shots in that span.

"We seem to play well against them," he said. "I don't know if it is a coincidence or what. I think they are a team that we've had a lot of respect for in the past. When the Bruins are our opponent, it kind of gives us a little extra jump knowing that we can't give them anything. It's good that we played so well against them."

Goals from John Carlson, Matt Niskanen and Marcus Johansson paced the Caps, who have won five of their last six and reached the 100-point plateau for the first time since 2010-11.

Tuukka Rask made 30 saves for the Bruins, who failed to gain any ground on idle Ottawa and are now tied for the last wild-card spot in the East. Both clubs have 95 points and two games remaining.

The hosts essentially wrapped up the contest by striking twice in a span of 2:17 early in the first period.

Carlson struck with 4:49 on the clock, whipping home a shot from the right circle after gathering a cross-ice dish from Nicklas Backstrom.

It was 2-0 at 7:06 after Troy Brouwer won a battle on the right-wing boards, chipping back to Backstrom, who fed Niskanen for a successful point drive.

"The first period really was the downside of our game tonight," said Bruins coach Claude Julien. "We didn't do enough to generate even a power play. You've got to be able to get on the inside on these guys. They're big, they're strong and at this point, I think I'd have expected a little bit more out of certain players."

Johansson added the Capitals' final marker with 2:13 left in the middle stanza, when he slid towards the right post and one-timed an Evgeny Kuznetsov centering feed.

Holtby nailed down the victory by turning away five shots in the third.

Game Notes

Holtby tied a Washington single-season franchise shutout record first set by Jim Carey in his Vezina Trophy campaign of 1995-96 ... The Capitals finish the regular season on Saturday by hosting the Rangers ... The Bruins head to Florida on Thursday and Tampa Bay on Saturday ... Washington also recorded 100-or-more points in 1983-86, 1999-2000 and 2008-11.






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