Holtby makes 37 saves to lift Capitals past Blackhawks

WASHINGTON --Braden Holtby made 37 saves for the Washington Capitals in a 4-2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at Capital One Arena on Wednesday.

Tom Wilson scored in his first home game since returning from suspension for Washington (11-7-3), which has won three straight. Andre Burakovsky, Michal Kempny and Devante Smith-Pelly also scored, and Jakub Vrana had two assists.
"Obviously, it was a shorter summer for us and a shorter time to prepare ourselves for the season," Burakovksy said. "Just to get back after a year that we had, I think it's tough to get in and get going right away. So we're building our game slowly, and tonight I think we did exactly what we wanted."
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Brandon Saad and Erik Gustafsson scored, and Corey Crawford made 23 saves for Chicago (8-9-5), which has lost 10 of its past 12 games (2-7-3).
"A few things we would like to have back certainly," Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton said. "Giving a very skilled team some excellent chances and they put them in the back of our net. They could have had a couple more, too. [Crawford] made some saves."
Wilson, who received a loud ovation when the starting lineups were announced, scored 54 seconds into the game to make it 1-0. Nicklas Backstrom skated in on a rush and fed Alex Ovechkin in the slot, who passed to Wilson at the left post for a tap in.

Burakovsky gave the Capitals a 2-0 lead at 6:36. Vrana controlled the rebound of Matt Niskanen's shot and sent a backhand pass through the slot to Burakovsky, who scored on a one-timer from the left circle with one second left on a power play.
Chicago didn't register a shot on goal until 7:48, but outshot Washington 14-12 in the period.
"I thought tonight [Holtby] was really solid," Capitals coach Todd Reirden said. "We gave up a few odd-man chances and I thought he made some big saves at critical times."
Kempny, playing against the Blackhawks for the first time since he was traded to the Capitals on Feb. 19, made it 3-0 with a slap shot from the point at 9:28 of the second period.
"I have to say, it wasn't an easy game for me to play," Kempny said. "I know a lot of guys from Chicago. I was there almost two seasons. But big win for me and for our team."
Saad cut it to 3-1 at 11:37 when he beat Holtby blocker side from the right circle.

Gustafsson then made it 3-2 at 5:23 of the third period when he tucked a backhand around Holtby off the rush, but Smith-Pelly scored to make it 4-2 at 7:12 off a cross-crease pass from Travis Boyd.
"Obviously don't want to give up a goal like that," Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith said. "It would have been nice to keep it 3-2 and add some more pressure on them."

They said it

"We're disappointed. We could have got some points today and we didn't. But we're good enough. We have a good enough team. We've just got to tighten up a little bit. These are things we can control and let's have the same effort and we'll be alright." -- Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton
"Yeah, that was a really balanced attack tonight. I feel we did the best we could to shut down their top line and still get contributions offensively from some other guys as well. So it was a good team win for us." -- Capitals coach Todd Reirden

Need to know

Capitals forwards Evgeny Kuznetsov and T.J. Oshie each missed his third straight game with an upper-body injury. … Blackhawks forward Jonathan Toews has six points (two goals, four assists) in a five-game point streak. … Vrana has five points (one goal, four assists) in his past five games. … Chicago has lost eight straight in Washington (0-7-1). Its last win came Jan. 10, 2006 (4-3 in overtime).

What's next

Blackhawks: At the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NBCSCH, NHL.TV)
Capitals:Host the Detroit Red Wings on Friday (4 p.m. ET; SN360, SNE, SNO, SNP, NBCSWA, FS-D, NHL.TV)