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Holtby's 44 saves help Caps even series with Bruins

Apr 20, 2012 - 3:32 AM Washington, DC (Sports Network) - The Washington Capitals got 44 saves from Braden Holtby and a late second-period goal from Alexander Semin to take a 2-1 win over the Boston Bruins in Game 4 of this Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.

The series is now tied at two games apiece as each team has won once as the host and the visitor. Game 5 will be Saturday afternoon in Boston.

Marcus Johansson scored the other goal for the Capitals, who played without center Nicklas Backstrom as he was suspended due to cross-checking Boston forward Rich Peverley at the end of Game 3.

"They came out real hard tonight, forecheck was hard and we turned the puck over a few times," said Washington head coach Dale Hunter. "Holtby was very good. He stood tall and kicked out a lot of rubber tonight."

Peverley scored the only goal while Tim Thomas stopped 19 shots for the Bruins, who were coming off a 4-3 win on Monday.

"Giving up that first goal and playing catch-up hockey," said Boston head coach Claude Julien. "We tied the game. We were right back where we wanted to be. But at the end of the night the results weren't the ones we wanted. When you shoot 40 shots on net you would expect your team to get more than one goal so there?s obviously some areas that we?re not happy with."

The first goal of the game went to Washington and it took just 82 seconds as a short pass from Brooks Laich at the left circle over to the right saw Johansson wrist it over the glove of Thomas.

Boston tied the game with 6:48 to play in the first. After Alex Ovechkin turned the puck over in the Boston zone, Greg Campbell grabbed the disc and hit Peverley with a pass to the right wing. Peverley skated the puck all the way to the low right circle on a 2-on-1 break and from the low circle slipped a shot between the pads of Holtby for his second goal of the playoffs.

The game stayed that way for a while until Semin scored on the power play late in the second.

With Patrice Bergeron in the box for hooking, Semin held the puck at the left circle and opted to shoot, snapping a shot past the glove of Thomas and into the right corner with 1:17 left in the second.

That was all that was needed as Holtby, who made 18 stops in the second, was stellar in the third, making 13 saves and helping the team kill off Boston's only power play when Mike Knuble was called for holding halfway through the third.

Game Notes

There were just four penalties, all minors, called in the game, three to Boston and one to Washington...Knuble was playing in his first game in the series after being a healthy scratch the previous three. He took the spot of Backstrom and played close to 12 minutes.