WASHINGTON -- Braden Holtby is not the kind of guy who puts much stock in his success against a particular opponent, so the Washington goaltender had a pretty simple theory when it comes to explaining why he, and the Capitals, have been so good against the Boston Bruins.

"I think we get ourselves up for the Bruins," he said after the Capitals rolled to a 4-1 triumph over Boston on Thursday. "I think we respect them a lot as a hockey team. That brings your best out."

After blanking Boston in three games last season, Holtby finally allowed a goal against the Bruins, but was otherwise impenetrable, finishing with 28 saves to improve to 8-2-0 in his career against them.

"Last year was kind of a fluke thing that happened -- shutouts usually are," he said. "Today, we just reset and realized we were playing a very good offensive team and focused on our game plan and not on the past or the future, just the present."

Washington had gone four complete games without a power-play goal, which is cause for alarm for this high-powered offense. But given the extra room on the ice provided by a pair of penalties to Bruins right winger Jimmy Hayes and center Brad Marchand in the second period, the Capitals found the net quickly.

Center Nicklas Backstrom placed a perfect pass to the stick of defenseman John Carlson, who delivered the one-timer into a wide-open net, easily beating Boston goaltender Tuukka Rask to push Washington's advantage to 3-1.

"We wanted to get a little jump-back on the power play, get a little mojo and see pucks go in," Carlson said. "That was big for the game, and big for us moving forward."

Boston coach Claude Julien could only lament the penalties that put his team behind the eight-ball in the decisive second period.

"Slashing in the neutral zone, too many men on the ice when your guy that you're jumping for is still there -- it's like, you've got to be smarter than that," he said. "I thought the second-period penalties were real bad penalties on our part."

Center Brooks Laich ended a 16-game streak without a goal and left winger Alex Ovechkin found the back of the net as well for Washington, which has now earned a point in 19 straight contests against Atlantic opponents, compiling a 16-0-3 mark during that stretch. Defenseman Karl Alzner added an empty-net goal with 1:50 remaining.

Boston became the last NHL team to lose on the road, dropping to 5-1-0 on the season away from home. Rask had 27 saves in the defeat.

"We started how we wanted to start, and then took a couple of penalties, and they ended up scoring on that and getting some momentum," Hayes said. "We're battling back from there. We can't let a team like that that's got a solid power play get 5-on-3s on us like that."

The Capitals took the lead for good in the second as defenseman Dmitry Orlov threw in a shot from the blue line, right where Laich was screening Rask. The puck redirected off Laich's foot for his first point of the year and first goal since March of last season.

Hayes put Boston on the board first, as the Bruins were able to take advantage of a power-play opportunity to end Holtby's shutout streak. Winger Brett Conley fired a shot that deflected off Washington defenseman Brooks Orpik's stick and then ricocheted off Hayes' chest into the back of the net. It was Hayes' fourth tally of the season.

Ovechkin answered with an unorthodox goal of his own, collecting a rebound off Rask's pads while falling to his knees, and, in one deft motion, poking the puck through the five-hole to tie the score at 1-1 with 2:33 left in the first period.

It was Ovechkin's team-high seventh goal of the season.

NOTES: Washington coach Barry Trotz was named to the Team Canada coaching staff for the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, which will be held in Toronto from Sept. 17-Oct. 1, 2016. He served as an assistant for Team Canada at the IIHF World Championships four previous times. ... Bruins C Max Talbot started on the fourth line, replacing C Chris Kelly, who fractured his femur on Tuesday. ... Scratches for Boston were C Zach Rinaldo, D Zach Trotman and RW David Pastrnak. ... C Michael Latta returned to the lineup for the Capitals, joining the fourth line for just his fourth game of the season. ... Scratches for Washington were D Taylor Chorney, C Chandler Stephenson and RW Stanislav Galiev. ... Capitals D John Carlson notched his 200th career point with a first-period assist.