Canadiens Outhustle Sluggish Capitals for 3-2 Win

Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images

The Washington Capitals fell to the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 Friday night at Capital One Arena. After a scoreless and mostly lethargic first period, each side registered power play markers in the middle frame to make it 1-1 at the second intermission. The Canadiens would add a rebound goal midway through the third and and empty net goal late in the game before Lars Eller scored his 10th of the season. But it was too little, too late. The Caps will be off on Saturday but return to Cap One to host the Philadelphia Flyers Sunday afternoon. Puck drop is rooster-crowing 12:30 PM.

STARTERS
Philipp Grubauer (4-5-3, 2.60 GAA, .917 sv%) started in goal for the Capitals. Antti Niemi (0-5-1, 4.85 GAA, .865 sv%) got the start for the visiting Canadiens. The Capitals forward lines and defensive pairs:

Ovechkin-Backstrom-Wilson
Vrana-Kuznetsov-Chiasson
Connolly-Eller-Oshie
Stephenson-Beagle-Burakovsky
Orlov-Niskanen
Djoos-Carlson
Orpik-Bowey
Grubauer starts

Scratches: Devante Smith-Pelley and Taylor Chorney were the healthy scratches for the Capitals.

FIRST PERIOD
A sluggish start to this one, with both sides struggling to generate much in the way of quality scoring chances. The Capitals went for a span of over 7:30 without generating a shot on goal, and mustered just a single shot on goal in the last 13 minutes of the period.

Andre Burakovsky, who returned to the lineup after a short string of healthy/unhealthy scratches, had two of the best scoring chances for the Caps in the period. Philipp Grubauer made a couple of nice saves to keep the game scoreless.

The period would end without a score. Montreal outshot Washington 8-4 for the first 20 minutes. The Capitals were 0 for 1 on the man advantage in the opening frame. The Caps won the battle at the faceoff dot 65-35%.

SECOND PERIOD
The Canadiens would finally dent the twine with a power play goal by Max Pacioretty at 7:08 of the middle frame.

John Carlson would tie the game with a power play goal from the top of the slot at 13:24 of the second period.

The second period would end with the game tied 1-1. After a very slow start, the Capitals outshot the Canadiens 12-7 for the second period, and led 16-15 in SOG after 40 minutes.

THIRD PERIOD
The Canadiens would regain the lead with a rebound goal by Paul Byron at 10:41 of the final frame.

The Canadiens would add an empty net goal by Max Pacioretty at 18:42 to make it 3-1. Lars Eller would cut the Habs lead to one with a goal at 19:06 of the final frame, but it wasn’t enough, as the Habs would hang on for the win.