Capitals' Win Streak Ends

Bruins 3, Capitals 2

Brian Willsie scores past Bruins goalie Tim Thomas to get the Caps on the scoreboard late in the second period. (Jonathan Newton - The Washington Post)

Alex Ovechkin gave an honest effort every shift. It didn't look like all of his teammates did, at least not for the first 40 minutes.

The Washington Capitals' two-period letdown was just long enough for Wayne Primeau and the Boston Bruins, who jumped out to a three-goal lead at MCI Center, withstood a third-period surge and hung on for a 3-2 victory in front of 14,417.

The loss snapped the Capitals' four-game winning streak, their longest in three years. They had been looking to win five in a row for the first time since March 2001.

"That's not the way we've been playing lately," Capitals winger Brian Willsie said. "It's disappointing we didn't come out stronger. For one reason or another, we came out the way we came out two or three weeks ago."

Ovechkin didn't have a point, but he skated hard, hit harder and single-handedly generated scoring chances. But by the time his teammates matched his intensity, the injury-depleted Bruins -- and their unheralded goalie, Tim Thomas -- had grabbed a 3-0 lead.

"I don't know if you can expect your team to outwork people every single night," Capitals Coach Glen Hanlon said.

In the third period, the Capitals slowly began to resemble the outfit that knocked off the Carolina Hurricanes, one of the NHL's top teams, on Saturday.

Brooks Laich snapped a wrist shot past Thomas (22 saves) 2 minutes 51 seconds into the final frame to trim Washington's deficit to 3-2. Thomas -- and the goal post -- spent the next 17 minutes keeping the potential equalizer out of the Bruins' net.

Matt Pettinger fired wide of the net on a breakaway and Jeff Halpern whiffed on a wraparound attempt. But the best chance belonged to Ovechkin, who rang a shot off the post with under two minutes remaining. Thomas also made a diving save on Chris Clark moments later to clinch the win.

"It's not my day today," Ovechkin said of hitting the post. "We not play our hockey. We must play hard. The third period we play well, but we run out of time. We must forget it."

Ovechkin acknowledged the play of backup goalie Brent Johnson, who made 30 saves for the Capitals in his 10th start of the season. Starter Olie Kolzig was ill.

Ovechkin went pointless for the first time in nine games and only the 10th time all season.