WASH DC – Nic Dowd scored the winning goal to give the host Washington Capitals a 3-2 overtime win over the visiting Boston Bruins in Saturday’s Stanley Cup playoffs opener.
Tom Wilson and Brenden Dillon also scored for the Capitals, and back-up goaltender Craig Anderson stopped 21 of the 22 shots he faced after being forced into action midway through the first period due to an injury suffered by starting goalie Vitek Vanecek.
Jake DeBrusk and Nick Ritchie each scored for the Bruins while goal-keeper Tuukka Rask made 29 saves in the loss.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven East Division series will be Monday in Washington.
Anderson, who will celebrate his 40th birthday this week, saw his first playoff action since May 25, 2017 when he was the keeper for the Ottawa Senators. The veteran played in only four NHL games this season, in which he posted a 2-1-0 record with a 2.13 goals-against average and .915 save percentage.
Washington’s No. 1 goalie Ilya Samsonov was removed from the league’s COVID-19 protocol list on Saturday but didn’t play.
Wilson, who had a two-point game, opened the scoring by taking advantage of a bad break for Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy, whose stick broke when he attempted a point shot. Wilson executed a give-and-go with Oshie on the resulting odd-man rush before he buried a shot from the left circle at the 6:22 mark.
Boston’s DeBrusk evened the score seven minutes later. After Curtis Lazar won the offensive-zone faceoff, pulling the puck back, DeBrusk quickly fired a long shot that eluded Vanecek as he did the splits and appeared to suffer a pulled groin muscle that forced him from the game.