Sabres spoil Backstrom’s 1,000th game, beat Caps

WASHINGTON » Anders Bjork scored his first goal with his new team and added an assist, helping Buffalo spoil Nicklas Backstrom’s 1,000th game as the Sabres beat the Washington Capitals 5-2 on Thursday night.

Sam Reinhart scored his 15th goal and Victor Olofsson added his 12th for Buffalo, which has won five of its last nine following an 18-game winless streak. Casey Middlestadt added the first shorthanded goal of his career during the Sabres’ three-goal second period. Tage

Thompson scored an empty-netter.

Backstrom picked up his 31st assist of the season as he became the second player to reach the 1,000-game mark for the Capitals, joining teammate Alex Ovechkin.

Anthony Mantha scored his second goal in as many games with Washington following his trade from Detroit. Dmitry Orlov also scored.

BRUINS 4, ISLANDERS 1 » Taylor Hall scored his first goal for Boston and Tuukka Rask stopped 22 shots to earn his first victory since February as the Bruins dominated New York.

Rask had played just once since March 7 because of a back injury. His teammates gave him an easy one, outshooting the Islanders 45-23 — including a 23-7 first period — and getting two goals from Brad Marchand and one from Craig Smith to win their second straight game.

RANGERS 4, DEVILS 0 » Artemi Panarin had two goals and an assist, Igor Shesterkin got his second straight shutout, and New York beat New Jersey.

Jacob Trouba and Ryan Lindgren also scored to help New York win for the sixth time in nine games (6-1-2).