WASHINGTON – Connor McMichael and Dylan Strome scored a minute apart early in the second period, Logan Thompson made some spectacular stops among his 25 saves and the Washington Capitals beat the Montreal Canadiens 3-1 on Wednesday night to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven first-round series.
Thompson was at his best in the third, notably robbing Josh Anderson of what would have been the tying goal on a 2-on-0 breakaway with 10:59 left, then later getting his stick on a deflection by Christian Dvorak. Fans chanted “L-T! L-T!” and gave the goaltender a standing ovation in honor of his performance in just his second game back from injury.
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"He shut the door when we needed it most," Strome said. “He was unbelievable, especially in the last five minutes.”
Until that point, Thompson did not have much work to do as his teammates outshot Montreal 18-8 in the second when Washington tilted the ice toward Sam Montembeault. McMichael added his second of the game into an empty net with 1.1 seconds left.
McMichael and Strome scoring turned the tide in favor of the Capitals, who after an uneven start looked every bit like the top team in the Eastern Conference and one of the best in the NHL this season. They controlled the puck for long stretches and got to the middle of the ice in front of Montembeault easily and with little resistance from a smaller and less experienced opponent.
Still, Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis liked elements of his team's game, including the play that led to Dvorak's goal that opened the scoring and the pressure put on the Capitals.
“It’s can you maximize those touches, those scoring chances — they’ve done that better than we have so far,” St. Louis said. I believe in the group. I think both goalies were great tonight. It’s a fine line between winning and losing."
Montembeault, like in Game 1, was arguably the Canadiens' best player, turning aside 29 of the 31 shots he faced, including Anthony Beauvillier on a quality scoring chance in the first and Nic Dowd on a shorthanded odd-man rush in the second. Cracking him twice allowed Washington to take control of the series.
“It was a tight game, but, yeah, a huge win,” captain Alex Ovechkin said. “They play hard, we play hard. It’s the playoffs. All the small details gonna count.”
Up next
Game 3 is Friday night in Montreal, marking the return of playoff hockey with Bell Centre full of fans. The last time that happened was 2017 because the Habs' 2021 run to the Stanley Cup Final came when pandemic restrictions limited capacity to a crowd of 3,500.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl