Chiasson double in third lifts Capitals
Bergeron surpasses Orr to become Boston’s top scorer ever with a brace in loss to Washington
>> BOSTON: Alex Chiasson scored two third-period goals, the second on a short-handed breakaway with 8:29 minutes left, and the Washington Capitals beat the Boston Bruins 5-3 on Thursday night.
Patrice Bergeron scored twice for Boston, moving past Bobby Orr on the team’s all-time list with his 265th career goal and adding another in the final seconds. Bergeron is 11 goals behind Wayne Cashman for seventh in franchise history.
“I love my old Bruins — Bobby Orr, the most,” Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said. “But good for Pat. The more he scores, the more it helps us win.”
Braden Holtby stopped 33 shots for the Capitals, who have beaten Boston 11 straight times. Jakub Vrana and Nicklas Backstrom also scored for Washington, and Alex Ovechkin added an empty-netter to make it 5-2 before Bergeron cut the deficit to two with 27 seconds left.
The Bruins had won three straight and nine of 11. The Capitals have won six of seven and nine of 11.
In St Louis, Kevin Roy scored twice and John Gibson made 29 saves as Anaheim defeated St Louis 3-1.
Andrew Cogliano also scored for the Ducks, who have won three of four. Patrik Berglund scored for the Blues, who have lost two in a row.
Gibson earned his second victory at St Louis in the last 16 days. He stopped 37 shots in a 3-2 win on Nov 29.
Roy scored twice in a span of 2:45 minutes in the third period to push the lead to 3-0. He was called up on Tuesday following an injury to Corey Perry.
In Winnipeg, Patrick Kane and Nick Schmaltz each had a goal and an assist as Chicago extended their season-high winning streak to four with a 5-1 victory over Winnipeg.
Vinnie Hinostroza, Tommy Wingels and Michal Kempny also scored for the Blackhawks (16-11-5). Corey Crawford made 27 saves in the first of five games this season between the Central Division foes.
Nikolaj Ehlers thwarted Crawford’s shut-out bid when he scored a powerplay goal at 5:35 minutes of the third period. He has a goal in each of his past four games.
The loss ended Winnipeg’s string of seven straight wins at home.
Connor Hellebuyck made 25 saves for the Jets (18-9-5). Hellebuyck had been unbeaten in regulation at home this season (11-1-1).
In Ohio, Zach Werenski had a goal and an assist, and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 21 shots to help Columbus hold off New York 6-4.
Markus Nutivaara, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Seth Jones, Nick Foligno and Josh Anderson also scored for the Blue Jackets, who snuffed out an Islanders comeback attempt that included a hat-trick by wing Josh Bailey.
Columbus (20-11-1) have won 11 of their last 15 and are in a knot of teams battling for supremacy in the tough Metropolitan Division.
Casey Cizikas also scored for New York, and John Tavares had two assists. The Islanders (17-12-3) have lost six of eight.
In St Paul, Alex Stalock stopped 28 shots for his first NHL shut-out in three seasons, steering Minnesota past Toronto 2-0 for their fourth straight victory.
Tyler Ennis scored early and Mikael Granlund added a late goal for the Wild, whose first three wins during the streak were all in extra time. They handed the Maple Leafs their first blank slate since a 3-0 loss at Calgary on Nov 30, 2016.
The Maple Leafs, who have the second-best record in the Eastern Conference and entered with the fifth-highest scoring average in the league, have totalled three goals over their last three games without injured star centre Auston Matthews.