Capitals’ goal spree continues in 11th consecutive victory
>> WASHINGTON: TJ Oshie scored twice and set up John Carlson’s go-ahead goal in the third period as the NHLleading Washington Capitals beat the Detroit Red Wings 6-3 on Thursday night for their 11th consecutive home victory.
Detroit’s Henrik Zetterberg made it 3-all less than 1½ minutes into the final period. But Oshie stole the puck deep in the offensive end, skated out front and slid it over to Carlson, whose slap shot sailed past goalie Petr Mrazek at the 4:15 minute mark.
Marcus Johansson, Brett Connolly and Nicklas Backstrom also scored for the Capitals. They have at least five goals in each of their past 10 home games. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, they are only the second NHL team to do that, joining the 1970-71 Boston Bruins, who did it in 11 straight home games.
BRUINS 6, SHARKS 3
In Boston, David Pastrnak scored two powerplay goals while Patrice Bergeron had a goal and three assists as Boston beat San Jose in Bruce Cassidy’s coaching debut.
Cassidy was named Boston’s interim coach after Claude Julien was fired on Tuesday. Cassidy joined the Bruins as an assistant last May after spending five seasons coaching Providence in the AHL.
David Backes added a goal and an assist, and Tim Schaller and Brad Marchand also scored to help Boston end a two-game skid. Tuukka Rask made 23 saves.
Joe Thornton, Justin Braun and Timo Meier scored for San Jose. Martin Jones allowed three firstperiod goals before backup Aaron Dell relieved him to start the second.
PENGUINS 4, AVALANCHE 1
In Denver, Patric Hornqvist scored twice while Sidney Crosby was held in check and Matthew Murray made 27 saves to help Pittsburgh beat Colorado.
Crosby remained stuck on 998 career points in his bid to become the 86th player in NHL history to reach 1,000.
Phil Kessel and Chris Kunitz also scored for Pittsburgh. Gabriel Landeskog finally solved Murray on a power play with 3:16 minutes remaining.