BOSTON — Alex Ovechkin scored his first two goals of the season, Braden Holtby stopped 29 shots and Washington Coach Barry Trotz earned his first win with the Capitals in a 4-0 victory over the Boston Bruins on Saturday night.
The three-time league MVP Ovechkin, who led the NHL with 51 goals last season, scored Washington’s first two of the game. Defenseman Mike Green had a power-play goal and John Carlson added a late score.
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WHO: Avalanche at Bruins
WHEN: 1 p.m. Monday
TELEVISION: NESN
Trotz, a long-ago Portland Pirates coach who was fired by Nashville last summer, was hired by Washington, which had missed the playoffs and fired Adam Oates. The Capitals lost Trotz’s first game, 2-1 in a shootout to Montreal at home Thursday.
Holtby stopped eight shots in the initial 81/2 minutes en route to his 12th career shutout, sending Boston to its second straight loss after a season-opening victory.
Boston’s Tuukka Rask made 17 saves. Last season’s Vezina Trophy winner has played all three of the Bruins’ games.
Eight seconds after Boston rookie Bobby Robins was sent to the penalty box for kneeing, Ovechkin one-timed Carlson’s pass from the point past Rask from the left circle to move the Capitals ahead 1-0 at 11:26.
Ovechkin’s second goal, off a nice feed from along the boards by Nicklas Backstrom, made it 2-0 at 18:39. Backstrom hustled from the right corner and outworked a Bruins’ player along the left boards before making a backhand pass to Ovechkin, who blistered a shot past Rask.
The Bruins have scored just three goals in their three games.
Holtby had a pair of nice stops – both on Chris Kelly’s bids from the slot – in the opening period. The first came at the 11-minute mark when he flashed his glove and the second was a left-pad stop.
Boston’s best chance came early in the third when Carl Soderberg broke in alone and shifted Holtby out of position, but he lost control of the puck just as he was attempting a shot.
Washington made it 3-0 when Green one-timed Evgeny Kuznetsov’s cross-ice pass past Rask 10:34 into the second.
The Bruins, who won the Presidents’ Trophy last season with the NHL’s best record, didn’t lose consecutive regular-season games after dropping contests Jan. 7 and 9.
NOTES: Boston’s top-line center, David Krejci, missed his third straight game because of an undisclosed injury. … Bruins center Patrice Bergeron needs three points for 500 in his career.
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