Caps rumble past Bruins, 8-1

In Boston, the house fell in early on the Bruins.

Vitek Vanecek made 34 saves for the Washington Capitals in an 8-1 win on Sunday.

The game was 6-0 by the end of the middle frame.

“It was good to get contributions throughout the lineup,” Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette said. “I said before, at times when the schedule, when we’re up against it, we’re just trying to spread the lines out so we can roll them, try to maximize the energy in the players and on the bench and throw what we have inside of the scheduling. This has been one of those examples where there’s potential for each line to do something, and tonight it all kind of just worked.”

T.J. Oshie (three points), Conor Sheary and Lars Eller had two each in the win.

Craig Smith  scored the lone Bruins goal in the third period to make the score 6-1.

“It’s really important (to look forward), especially in a season like this where you’re playing every other day or back-to-back,” the Bruins’ Patrice Bergeron said. “That’s definitely something you have to have, especially after a game like today. Obviously, there’s no excuses and it was a very, very poor showing. But that being said, we have to look forward and if there’s video tomorrow or the next day, look at it and be ready for Buffalo (on Tuesday).”

Tom Wilson  and Lars Eller added single markers for the Caps.

“I feel like it was just one of those nights where we were clicking and people were in the right spots,” Sheary said. “Our breakouts were good, our entries were good, our recoveries were really good, and then when we got chances to score, we executed.”

Dan Vladar made 25 saves in the loss.

“It was a tough one for Dan, but in a sense, the message for him is he had to battle through it,” Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Our guys in front of him could’ve done a better job getting through it. Some of them are battling through not being in the League that long either.

“At the end of the day, I don’t think it’s going to help us a lot. Our start was going to be very important tonight. We needed to find a way to stay in the game. We weren’t able to do that. It snowballed on us.”