Bruins end season with 4-3 SO win over Capitals

Marco Sturm tied the game with 4:18 remaining in regulation for Boston. Mike Knuble had given Washington the lead by redirecting Mike Green's drive with 10:01 to play.
The Capitals did get one major personal benchmark. Alexander Semin reached the 40-goal mark for the first time in his career and also notched his 300th career point with a drive from the far edge of the left circle that went between Thomas' legs in the first period. Eric Belanger also scored for Washington, which had a five-game winning streak snapped.
Michael Ryder scored twice in the first period for the Bruins.
Ovechkin began the day with 50 goals, tied with the Tampa Bay Lightning's Steven Stamkos and one goal ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby in the race for the Maurice Richard Trophy that goes to the league's top goal-scorer. Ovechkin was trying to become the first player to win the award three years in a row since Brett Hull (1990-92). The Lightning and the Penguins had games later Sunday.
Ovechkin was also three points behind the Vancouver Canucks' Henrik Sedin in the pursuit of the Art Ross Trophy for league's top scorer. Sedin finished the season with 112 points by getting four assists in the Canucks' win Saturday night.
Of course, Ovechkin could have other trophies in store. He's certainly a front-runner to win the Hart Trophy for MVP again, and the Capitals are top contenders to win their first Stanley Cup.
With both teams' seeds in the Eastern Conference playoffs already secured, Sunday's game was more about individual milestones for some players and an extra day of rest for others. Among the scratches for Boston were Patrice Bergeron, Andrew Ference, Mark Recchi, Zdeno Chara, Mark Stuart and Vladimir Sobotka. Thomas made 34 saves in place of Tuukka Rask.
Tomas Fleischmann, Eric Fehr, Quintin Laing, Tyler Sloan and John Erskine had the day off for Washington. Boudreau has yet to settle on a No. 1 goaltender for the playoffs, so Semyon Varlamov got the start and made 35 saves in his final bid to win the job over Jose Theodore.
The Capitals are No. 1 in the East and won the Presidents' Trophy, awarded to the team with the NHL's best overall record, while the Bruins' No. 6 seed was sewn up on Saturday. After the game, both teams keenly kept track of the day's later results from around to league to see who their first-round opponents would be.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Alex Ovechkin's bid for more hardware had a muted finish Sunday as the two-time reigning MVP was held without a point in the Boston Bruins' 4-3 shootout win over the Washington Capitals.
David Krejci and Miroslav Satan scored in the shootout for the Bruins, who ended the regular season on a three-game winning streak. Ovechkin and the Capitals' other top scorers didn't take part in the shootout as coach Bruce Boudreau gave Boyd Gordon and Matt Bradley a chance _ both unsuccessful _ against Boston backup goalie Tim Thomas.

The Capitals also sold out every home game this season for the NBA jerseys first time in franchise history and finished with a club record 121 points in the standings, the first team outside of the NHL's Original Six to reach the 120 mark in a season.