This year, the Washington Capitals appear to have saved their best for the postseason.



Joel Ward slammed home a rebound at 2:57 of overtime to give Washington a 2-1 victory over Boston in Game 7 of their first-round playoff series Wednesday night, sending the Capitals to Eastern Conference semifinals and ending the defending Stanley Cup champion Bruins' hopes of a repeat.



Rookie Braden Holtby stopped 31 shots for Washington in the seventh one-goal game of the series. Matt Hendricks also scored for the Capitals, who barely made the playoffs this year after finishing atop the Eastern Conference in each of the previous two seasons -- and winning just one postseason series combined.



"It's a nice sense of accomplishment to be able to get over the hump," Capitals defenseman Karl Alzner said. "It's nice to turn the page, and maybe we're writing a new script."