Capitals vs. Canadiens: How the Game Was Won
Tuesday night in DC, the Caps exploded for seven goals against the Oilers before packing up and heading up to Montreal, where a much younger and rested Canadiens squad awaited them. It was a tough ask to expect another victory, let alone an offensive explosion like they’d had the night before. But the boys rose to the occasion and put together a thrilling, if not always pretty, victory in one of the toughest buildings in the league.
Much like the Edmonton game, the Caps kept toying with a two-goal lead, pulling ahead by a pair only to have the Habs pull within one. The home team kept it close last night…until it wasn’t, and that final nail in the coffin came from – who else? – Alex Ovechkin.
Early in the third period, Montreal had once again done that annoying thing where they scored to cut the lead to one, Mike Matheson doing the honors to make the score 5-4. That’s where it would stay for about ten minutes, when things started escalating quickly.
Anthony Beauvillier did a great job of pressuring Lane Hutson in the Caps’ zone, forcing the young blueliner to dump the puck to the other side of the ice. Unfortunately for him, none of his teammates were there – but Dylan Strome was, and Strome immediately began the breakout with Beauvillier and Ovechkin up the ice. He then sent a perfect cross-ice pass, past a diving Nick Suzuki, over to Ovechkin, to set up a lethal snap shot:
The Habs had been matching the Caps punch for punch all night, but it seemed like this was one punch too many, and they would not get any closer. Coach St. Louis pulled Jakub Dobeš for the extra attacker, a move which led almost immediately to a beauty of an empty-netter by the captain to round out his hat trick.
Sonny Milano added insult to injury with his second goal in the classic “scoring on a goalie after the goalie comes back in following an empty-netter” move, but it was the two goals by Ovechkin that really cemented the win as the Caps would walk away with an impressive 8-4 victory.
