Bruins C Matt Lindblad played his first NHL game and Krug w. Kevin P

WASHINGTON -- New Yorks Cam Talbot and Washingtons Philipp Grubauer, two backup goalies making it hard for their coaches to keep them on the bench, combined for 68 saves on Friday night. Talbot came up one short. Nicklas Backstrom had a goal and an assist, and Eric Fehr scored the tiebreaking goal with 5:09 left to lift the Capitals over the Rangers 3-2. Moments after New York defenceman Dan Girardis drive hit the post, Fehr took a pass from Backstrom during 4-on-4 play, skated in, and beat Talbot from the right circle for his sixth goal. "It was just a quick release that beat me," Talbot said. "Its (a save) Ive got to make, especially in a situation like that where its a tie game with five minutes to go and were pressing for the win." Mike Green added a goal, and Grubauer had 37 saves for Washington, which had dropped two straight before taking the finale of a three-game homestand. "Its huge," Grubauer said. "Every win is, because I havent played many games. Every win is a great feeling for me." Grubauer improved to 5-1-1 in eight games since being called up to Washington. "Right now, its only been eight games, and goalies -- like everybody -- have their waves," Capitals coach Adam Oates said. "Right now it looks like hes playing with confidence, and hes giving the players confidence." Benoit Pouliot and Carl Hagelin scored for New York, which had won two straight. It was the Rangers first game after a nine-game homestand. "Its disappointing, obviously. I thought we played a pretty strong game," Girardi said. "That last (goal) is tough. I hit the post then they come right back down and score." Talbot, making his third straight start in place of No. 1 goalie Henrik Lundqvist, stopped 31 shots in the opener of a five-game road trip. He came in with an 8-2 record and a 1.60 goals against average in 12 games, and won the final two games of the homestand. Backstrom continued his impressive December and has 17 points in his last eight games. He began the night fourth in the NHL in points and third in assists, "Hes handling the puck with confidence, and hes making great plays," Fehr said. "Its what we expect of him, but its pretty unbelievable to watch." Hagelin tied the game with a short-handed goal 17 seconds into the third period. He took a feed from Ryan McDonagh, skated in alone on Grubauer, and scored with a backhanded shot. The Rangers outshot Washington 14-7 in the opening period and had two power plays to one for the Capitals, but trailed 1-0. With Rick Nash off for tripping, Martin Erat sent a pass to Green at the point for a one-timed shot that got past Talbot on the glove side at 6:55 for his third goal. New York lost defenceman Anton Stralman to an undisclosed injury in the period and played the remainder of the game with five defencemen. "You go from six to five defencemen and youre top three have to log a tremendous amount of minutes," Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said, "Might make it a little bit more challenging in terms of defending and attacking, but thats not an excuse. Those are things that happen." The Rangers tied it on a power play when Pouliot deflected Brad Richards shot from the point past Grubauer at 1:37 of the second period. It was Pouliots sixth goal of the season and third in four games. The Capitals appeared to retake the lead midway through the second, but a replay review showed that Fehrs shot bounced off the post, went behind Talbot, but didnt cross the goal line. After a flurry of saves by Grubauer late in the period, the Capitals went ahead 2-1 when Steve Olesky pushed a loose puck ahead to Backstrom. Talbot could only get a piece of the shot from the right circle that produced Backstroms 10th goal with 1:05 left in the period. "Hes playing great, hes obviously in a groove," Oates said. "We count on him so much for so many touches in a game." Lundqvist, a three-time All-Star, signed a seven-year, $59.5 million contract extension on Dec. 4 to become the highest paid NHL goalie. Since then, he is 2-4-2 with a 3.41 goals-against average in eight games. Lundqvist lost his most recent appearance 5-3 to the New York Islanders last Friday, giving up four goals on 19 shots. NOTES: Alex Ovechkin failed to score a goal for the ninth straight game against the Rangers, including the playoffs. ... Capitals C Brooks Laich (groin), who returned Monday after missing 11 games, was out of the lineup. ... RW Erat has 14 assists in 35 games, but hasnt scored a goal. Simon Mignolet Jersey . The Raptors have been outscored 88-66 in the opening quarter over a three-game span to begin the month of February. Their most recent loss, 109-101 in Sacramento on Wednesday, was eerily similar to Saturdays defeat at the hands of the Trail Blazers. Youri Tielemans Belgium Jersey . Ted Ligety, Mikaela Shiffrin, Bode Miller and Tim Jitloff underlined the squads enormous potential on the Rettenbach glacier in Austria. http://www.belgiumsoccerpro.com/Dedryck-Boyata-Belgium-Jersey/ . Granato was an assistant for the Pittsburgh Penguins for the last five seasons, and he was also part of Team USAs staff at the 2014 Olympics. Jan Vertonghen Jersey . -- Michael Bennett gambled last off-season that playing on a one-year deal in Seattle would pay off in the future with the long-term contract he always wanted. Adnan Januzaj Jersey . So far, so good: Gonzalez has allowed one run through 12 innings this season. His second start came Tuesday night, when he gave up only three singles over six innings to lead the Nationals to a 5-0 victory over the Miami Marlins.BOSTON -- Boston winger Milan Lucic didnt hide the thoughts many of his teammates may have had in the Bruins locker room following a fairly easy win over Carolina. "I just hope were not peaking right now and keep wanting more," Lucic said after the Eastern Conference-leading Bruins beat the Hurricanes 5-1 on Saturday afternoon for their eighth straight victory. "Weve done a good job of staying focused and keeping on the task at hand," he said. "It seems like were playing at our highest level of the season so far. It seems to have gotten better since the start of February and Olympic break." Jarome Iginla scored a pair of goals and backup goaltender Chad Johnson made 29 saves, helping extend the Bruins longest winning streak since a 10-game stretch in November 2011. Lucic had a goal and two assists, Torey Krug and Chris Kelly each scored a goal and David Krejci added three assists, his first coming as he was falling to the ice on Lucics score. Bruins coach Claude Julien wasnt about to say his team is playing its best. "If he thinks were peaking too soon I can show him areas where we can play better," he said, breaking into a grin. "Were playing well and working hard." Alexander Semin had the goal and Cam Ward made 36 saves for the Hurricanes, who lost for the eighth time in 11 games. Johnson, playing with regular goalie Tuukka Rask getting the day off, is 8-0-1 in his past nine starts. Bruins defenceman Johnny Boychuk had to be helped off the ice favouring his right leg after going off-balance into the boards midway into the third period. He was back about a minute later and ended up blocking a shot before limping off on his next shift. Boston grabbed a 1-0 lead on Lucics goal 15:28 into the opening period. Krejci was falling after being tripped on what would have been a penalty on Eric Staal, but he pushed the puck ahead to Lucic. The winger then snapped off a quick shot inside the right post into a wide-open area with Ward over near the other post. "Its funny. I was talking to him after the play," Lucic said, smiling. "He said he was going to shoot it. Its a bit of a lucky play to come back to me. Again, youve gotta be lucky to be good sometimes. Thats what happened there. Thats how it goes sometimes. You can be working hard and playing well and things dont go your way.ddddddddddddquot; Lucic then set up Iginla to make it 2-0 at 17:24 of the second. The Bruins rugged winger outworked defenceman Jay Harrison for the puck in the corner, hustled to it behind the net and sent a pass out front to Iginla, who fired a wrist shot inside the far post over Wards glove. Semin ended Johnsons shutout bid 3:53 into the third when his shot caromed off the stick of Boychuk and bounced into the net. Boston broke it open with two goals later in the period before Krug scored in the final seconds. "Yeah, you know what, theyre a good hockey team, theyre physical," Carolina coach Kirk Muller said. "It was disappointing for us because weve been playing pretty good hockey recently. Usually, as the game goes on we get stronger and stronger, but I dont think we pushed back well enough tonight after they came out hard in the first. They set the tone and I dont think we really responded -- even though the game was a 2-1 game for the most part." Kellys score made it 3-1 at 12:49 and Iginla scored his team-leading 23rd goal 13 seconds later, firing a wrister past Ward from the slot. Johnson had a key save late in the second after Boston made it 2-0 when he made a right pad stop on Staal at the end of a 2-on-1 break. "I thought we didnt capitalize on opportunities, and that always hurts us obviously early in the game, and then they just kept coming," Hurricanes forward Nathan Gerbe said. NOTES: Bruins C Matt Lindblad played his first NHL game and Krug was back in the lineup after being a healthy scratch in the previous game. ... The Hurricanes entered the game with the leagues 29th ranked power play and went 0 for 3. ... Playing a Carolina team not known for physical play, Julien elected to make enforcer Shawn Thornton a healthy scratch. ... Iginla played his 1,300th career game. ... Boston swept the three games against Carolina this season. ... Boston F Gregory Campbell impressed the crowd and drew some loud oohs when he tipped a shot between his legs with his back to Ward in the second period. ... Boston C Patrice Bergeron was whistled for three minor penalties. ... The Hurricanes host Edmonton on Sunday. ... Boston D Dougie Hamilton sent Jeff Skinner flying to the ice with a hard check in the third. ' ' '