BOSTON — Alex Ovechkin scored his 891st career goal, moving him four away from passing Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record, and Dylan Strome broke a third-period tie on Tuesday night to lead the Washington Capitals to a 4-3 victory over the Boston Bruins.
Nic Dowd and Tom Wilson also scored for Washington. Charlie Lindgren made 21 saves to help the Eastern Conference-leading Capitals snap a a three-game losing streak.
David Pastrnak had two goals, Vinni Lettieri scored one and Jeremy Swayman stopped 27 shots for Boston, which lost its ninth in a row.
Ovechkin gave the Capitals a 2-0 lead with about four minutes left in the first period, pushing a cross-crease pass from Strome into an open net. He has 12 goals in his last 18 games and eight games remaining this season to catch Gretzky.
The 39-year-old Russian also shot wide on an empty net in the final minutes.
The Bruins came back in the second, getting a goal from Lettieri six minutes into the second and then the tying score by Pastrnak with three minutes left in the period. But Strome gave Washington the lead midway through the third, grabbing a rebound off the back wall and slipping it past Swayman.
Capitals: Ovechkin is averaging a little less than two goals every three games. At that pace, he would pass Gretzky in the penultimate game of the season, at the New York Islanders on April 15.
Bruins: The fans got what they wanted from their draft lottery-bound team: A goal from Ovechkin and a competitive game.
With five minutes left in the second period, Boston’s Jeffrey Viel and Washington’s Dylan McIlrath squared off for a fight that seemed like it might be the highlight of the night for those fans actually rooting for the Bruins.
Two minutes later, Pastrnak redirected a slap pass from Morgan Geekie into the net to tie it 2-all.
Capitals forward and Massachusetts native Ryan Leonard played his first NHL game. The Hobey Baker Award finalist had back-to-back 30-goal seasons at Boston College, which was eliminated from the NCAA hockey tournament on Sunday night.
The Capitals are in Carolina to play the Hurricanes on Wednesday night and the Bruins visit the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
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