Star is healthy scratch in 3-2 overtime victory
The Southeast Division title, No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference and the Presidents’ Trophy for best record in the NHL are all off the checklist.
The Caps plan now is to take their final four games to rest, recover and prepare for next week’s Stanley Cup playoffs.
Star defenseman Mike Green earned the night off on Monday at Verizon Center. His teammates found a way to win anyway, defeating the Boston Bruins, 3-2, thanks to an overtime goal by forward Brooks Laich.
Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Knuble had the other goals for Washington (52-15-12, 116 points), which had already clinched the Presidents’ Trophy after San Jose’s loss on Sunday night. That allowed coach Bruce Boudreau to make Green a healthy scratch as he begins to rest players over the final week.
It was a difficult loss for the Bruins (36-30-13, 85 points), who are in a desperate fight for an Eastern Conference playoff spot. With just three games left they are one point ahead of Philadelphia (39-34-6, 84 points) for the No. 7 seed.
After a penalty to Boston defenseman Dennis Wideman in overtime, Semin fired a shot that Laich stopped and then slammed past Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask for the winner. It was goal No. 25 for Laich and his first since missing four games with a facial injury late last month.
Backstrom gave the Caps an early lead at 7 minutes, 36 seconds of the first period when Wideman couldn’t scrape it away in time. That gave Backstrom his 31st goal.
But Washington’s good fortune wouldn’t last. The Bruins earned a faceoff in the final seconds of the first period. Patrice Bergeron beat David Steckel on a faceoff and the puck worked its way back to Wideman, who blasted a shot past goalie Jose Theodore (28 saves) to tie the game at 1-1. That goal came with less than two seconds left in the period.
Late in the second, Alex Ovechkin drove the net hard and Knuble was there to poke it past Rask with just 29 seconds left.
