Capitals 4, Bruins 3 (OT)

WASHINGON, D.C. -- Eric Fehr completed a three-point night and a four-goal comeback when he scored 37 seconds into overtime to give the Washington Capitals a stunning 4-3 win over the Boston Bruins Tuesday night at Verizon Center.

Fehr, who was signed by the Capitals on Jan. 13 after no other team offered him a contract, took a pass from Nicklas Backstrom, split defensemen Dennis Seidemberg and Dougie Hamilton, and lifted a highlight reel shot over Tukka Rask for the game-winner.

Fehr also assisted on goals by Tomas Kundratek and Wojtek Wolski, giving him his first three-point night of the season.

The win lifted the Capitals' record to 7-3-0 in their last 10 games and 9-11-1 overall.

The Bruins lost for just the sixth time this season, falling to 14-3-3 overall.

It was a classic ending to what was a classic playoff series between the two teams last season.

Wolksi sent the game into overtime when he scored his first goal in 12 games with 6:05 remaining in regulation. Wolksi, who was in the Washington lineup only because Troy Brouwer fell ill before the game, slipped behind a Boston defenseman, took a lead pass from Fehr and whacked a backhander through Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask for his first goal since Feb. 1.

The Bruins had a chance to win in regulation when Alex Ovechkin took a hooking penalty on Brad Marchand, but the Caps blocked three shots on the penalty kill and nearly scored themselves when Ovechkin broke out of the box and was stopped by Rask on a netcrashing bull rush.

If the Bruins were looking to avenge their first-round playoff loss they did a nice job of it in the first period, taking a 3-0 lead on goals by Brad Marchand, Zdeno Chara and Dougie Hamilton.

Marchand, who earned his nickname of Little Ball of Hate in last year's first-round matchup with the Capitals, got things started with a rare shorthanded penalty shot.

Marchand turned a John Carlson giveaway into a shorthanded breakaway, but when Alex Ovechkin slashed him from behind he was awarded a penalty shot.

Marchand responded by slipping a shot between the pads of goaltender Braden Holtby for his team-high 12th goal of the season at the 6:29 mark.

Chara made it 2-0 with 2:53 remaining in the opening period when he collected his own rebound, which landed at the feet of David Krejci, and fired a shot into the half-empty net.

When Ovechkin went to the box for interfering with Chris Kelly just 68 seconds later the Bruins extended their lead to 3-0 on a power-play blast from Hamilton from the top of the slot.

Whatever Capitals coach Adam Oates said during the first intermission must have worked because the Caps climbed back into the game on second-period goals by Mike Ribeiro and Tomas Kundraek.

Ribeiro got things started 5:46 into the period when he parked himself on the left side of Tuukka Rask. Ovechkin batted down a shot by rookie defenseman Steve Oleksy and found Ribeiro for his eighth goal of the season. It was also Oleksy's first NHL point in his first NHL game.

The Caps drew within 3-2 at the 11:32 mark, this time on Kundraek's first career NHL goal. Nicklas Backstrom won a faceoff back to Eric Fehr, who set up Kundratek's shot from the top of the right circle that eluded Rask.

The score remained that way entering the third period, familiar territory for a pair of teams that played in seven straight one-goal games in their playoff series last year, four of them decided in overtime.

NOTES: The Capitals placed defenseman Roman Hamrlik on waivers on Tuesday. The 39-year-old veteran leads all Czech-born players with 1,383 career games in the NHL but had been a healthy scratch in 16 of the Capitals' first 20 games. The move was necessitated when the Capitals recalled rookie defenseman Steve Oleksy from the AHL Hershey Bears. Oleksy made his NHL debut against the Bruins. ... Washington was without leading goal scorer Troy Brouwer, who fell ill before the game and was replaced on a second line by Wojtek Wolski. ... The Bruins entered the game with a 6-0-0 record against teams in the Southeast Division. ... Nathan Horton's assist on Dougie Hamilton's first-period goal was the 200th assist of his career. It came in his 568th game. ... Bruins coach Claude Julien entered the game three wins shy of matching Milt Schmidt on the Bruins' all-time list of coaching victories. ... The Bruins return to action Thursday night at home against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Capitals return to action Thursday night at home against the Florida Panthers.