Bruins Shut Out Caps

Tim Thomas stopped 31 shots for his first shutout this season, Marc Savard broke a scoreless tie in the second period and the Bruins, led by Zdano Chara, throttled Alex Ovechkin in a 2-0 victory over the Washington Capitals Thursday night in Boston.

"You see what Z does for us back there," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "We're always pairing him up against guys like Ovechkin."

Besides keeping Ovechkin off the scoresheet, Chara added a power-play goal in the third period for the Bruins, who have won two straight following a six-game skid.

Ovechkin, second in the NHL with 30 goals, had a seven-game point streak snapped and was held without a point for the seventh time this season. He had four goals and three assists in his past two games, and at least one point in 23 of 25.

Washington, coming off a home-and-home sweep of Eastern Conference-leading Ottawa, lost in regulation for the first time in six games.

"Most terrible game of the season for us," Ovechkin said. "We don't move. We don't shoot the puck. We were sleeping tonight. Everybody."

Savard hustled out of the penalty box to grab a loose puck in the corner, sending a pass to Glen Metropolit in the slot. Savard then circled out front, fired a shot and scored off his own rebound for his first goal in nine games to make it 1-0 at 13:35 of the second.

Chara beat Kolzig with a slap shot from the left point while the Bruins had a two-man advantage with 10 minutes left.

Canucks 3, Rangers 0: Roberto Luongo stopped 27 shots to shut out the Rangers in Vancouver, British Columbia. It was Luongo's sixth shutout of the season.

The Canucks extended their home unbeaten streak to 13 games with the victory, having allowed just 11 goals at home since Nov. 9.

Steve Valiquette started in goal for the Rangers, his eighth start of the season. Henrik Lundqvist lost in Calgary Wednesday.

The shutout ended Scott Gomez's 13-game point streak and Jaromir Jagr's eight-game streak. The Rangers had a 28-19 edge in shots.

Smyth out up to eight weeks: Avalanche forward Ryan Smyth has a broken right ankle and will miss up to eight weeks.

Smyth (11 goals, 17 assists) was hurt Monday at Phoenix.

The Avs already lost Joe Sakic, who had hernia surgery Dec. 28 and will miss eight to 12 weeks.