Capitals top Blue Jackets, tie series

Evgeny Kuznetsov had a goal and two assists, and Braden Holtby stopped 23 shots as the Washington Capitals beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 4-1, on Thursday night to even their playoff series at two games apiece.

Tom Wilson and Alexander Ovechkin each had a goal and an assist, and T.J. Oshie also scored for the workmanlike Capitals, who won this time in regulation after the first three games of the best-of-7 series were decided in overtime. Game 5 is Saturday afternoon in Washington.

Columbus had overcome multi-goal deficits to win the first two games in Washington. When the series shifted to Columbus on Tuesday, the Capitals prevailed in doubleovertime.

Boone Jenner scored, and Sergei Bobrovsky had 29 saves for Columbus.

BRUINS TAKE 3-1 SERIES LEAD » Brad Marchand scored the go-ahead goal in the second period and Tuukka Rask made 31 saves as the Boston Bruins defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1 on Thursday night to take a 3-1 lead in their first-round playoff series.

Torey Krug and Jake DeBrusk also had goals for the Bruins, who can win the Eastern Conference quarterfinal when they host Game 5 on Saturday at Boston’s TD Garden. David Pastrnak added two assists.

Tomas Plekanec scored the lone goal for the Leafs.

NBA

76ERS WIN IN EMBIID’S PLAYOFF DEBUT» A masked Joel Embiid scored 23 points in his postseason debut, Marco Belinelli and Dario Saric each added 21 and the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Miami Heat 128108 on Thursday night to take a 2-1 lead in their Eastern Conference first-round series.

Ben Simmons finished with 19 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists for the 76ers. Embiid went on a personal 7-0 run in the fourth quarter to help Philadelphia extend its lead to 14, and send many in the crowd to the exits.

Goran Dragic scored 23 points for Miami, which got 19 from Justise Winslow and 14 from Josh Richardson.

Game 4 is Saturday afternoon.