Pastrnak's 3-point night gives Sturm 1st win as Bruins coach

WASHINGTON (AP) — David Pastrnak had a goal and two assists and Jeremy Swayman made 35 saves in the Boston Bruins' 3-1 victory over Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals on Wednesday night.

Pastrnak scored in the second period and Elias Lindholm added a goal at 7:41 of the third — just 38 seconds after Tom Wilson had tied it at 1 for Washington.

Morgan Geekie scored into an empty net with 57.1 seconds remaining.

The Bruins made Marco Sturm a winner in his first game as coach, killing off all five of Washington's power plays. That included a two-man advantage that lasted nearly a minute in the second.

The 40-year-old Ovechkin is in the final year of his contract, and if this was his last season opener, at least one goal-scoring record will elude him. He has 13 goals in openers, but Michel Goulet and Dino Ciccarelli both had 14.

After breaking Wayne Gretzky's NHL record late last season, Ovechkin entered 2025-26 with 897 career goals. He had three shots on goal Wednesday but couldn't beat Swayman. After dealing with a preseason injury last month, Ovechkin occasionally came off the ice during power plays instead of staying on with both units.

Swayman stopped Nic Dowd on a semi-breakaway in the second after a poor line change by Boston. Then Washington goalie Logan Thompson returned the favor with a save on Viktor Arvidsson's breakaway. Pastrnak opened the scoring when his wrist shot from just inside the blue line made it through traffic and past Thompson.

Wilson tied it from just to the right of the slot, but after a holding penalty on Washington's John Carlson, Lindholm lifted a backhand over Thompson to put Boston back ahead.

Up next

Bruins: Host Chicago on Thursday night.

Capitals: At the New York Islanders on Saturday night.