44 saves and Caps tie series
PLAYOFF ROOKIE Braden Holtby followed up a shaky outing with a superb one by making 44 saves Thursday, and Alexander Semin scored the go-ahead goal, leading the Washington Capitals to a 2-1 victory over the reigning Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins that tied the first-round series at two games apiece.
PLAYOFF ROOKIE Braden Holtby followed up a shaky outing with a superb one by making 44 saves Thursday, and Alexander Semin scored the go-ahead goal, leading the Washington Capitals to a 2-1 victory over the reigning Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins that tied the first-round series at two games apiece.
Marcus Johansson put the puck past Tim Thomas less than 1 1/2 minutes after the opening faceoff, but Boston's Rich Peverley tied it later in the first period. Semin put Washington ahead for good with 1:17 left in the second on a power-play goal.
The series shifts back to Boston for Game 5 Saturday. Game 6 will be in Washington on Sunday.
Washington was 25-0-1 during the regular season when leading after two periods, and Holtby continued that trend, inspiring repeated chants of "Holt-bee! Holt-bee!" from the red-wearing spectators.
After things got rowdy in Game 3, the Capitals did it with discipline Thursday: The hosts were called for only one penalty.
In other games *
At Newark, Martin Brodeur bounced back from his shortest postseason performance with a record-setting 24th playoff shutout, leading the New Jersey Devils to a 4-0 victory over the Florida Panthers, tying their first-round series at 2-all.
Brodeur made 26 saves in taking over sole possession of the postseason shutout mark from Patrick Roy. The 39-year-old goaltender also added his second assist of the series, giving him 10 for his career, four behind all-time leader Grant Fuhr.
The effort came 2 days after Brodeur was lifted after giving up three goals in 22:18 in a 4-3 loss.
* At Chicago, Mikkel Boedker scored in overtime for the second straight game and the Phoenix Coyotes beat the Blackhawks, 3-2, to take a 3-1 lead in the series.
Boedker skated ahead of defenseman Nick Leddy and shoveled the puck under goalie Corey Crawford at 2:15 in the fourth straight game that has gone to an extra period.
In Blackhawks news, Chicago coach Joel Quenneville was fined $10,000 for criticizing officials following the Blackhawks' overtime loss in Game 3.