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The Canadiens headed into the second game of their first-round playoff series against the Washington Capitals one game down, having lost the first game 3-2 in overtime. However, possibly more important than the loss was the confidence and belief the young Habs team gained from their third-period comeback. Beating the top team in the Eastern Conference did not look impossible anymore.

The belief was justified, with the Habs again dominating the third period, but it was too little, too late, as the Capitals capitalized on two second-period defensive breakdowns to take a 2-1 lead and never looked back. A strong performance by Logan Thompson limited the Canadiens to a single goal, and the team will return to Montreal down two games in the series.

Opening Lines

Caufield – Suzuki – Slafkovsky
Anderson – Dvorak – Gallagher
Heineman – Evans – Demidov
Laine – Newhook – Armia

Guhle – Hutson
Matheson – Carrier
Struble – Savard

Montembeault
Dobes

Ten Thoughts

1) The Canadiens had not forgotten what they were able to do in the third period on Monday night, when they buzzed around in the Washington zone, at times skating circles around a discombobulated Capitals team. The top line looked good immediately, but the opposition wasn’t unprepared, either.

2) The Capitals love to throw their weight around, with Alexander Ovechkin and Tom Wilson at the Vanguard. Eight minutes into the first, Josh Anderson gave Wilson a taste of his own medicine, smashing him cleanly into the boards. Alas, Wilson didn’t have the puck at the time, so that was going to be an interference call. But Wilson immediately skated for Anderson with clear intent, and as Anderson pushed him away with a mid-cross-check, Wilson buckled like a cheap rag doll in a move worthy of Lionel Messi.

3) After Monday’s rope-a-dope displays when killing penalties, the Habs had clearly adjusted their penalty-killing approach, and the penalty kill was far more effective. The Capitals managed but a single shot on goal–Ovechkin’s only shot attempt flew high over the net–and the Jake Evans shorthanded counterattack looked nearly as dangerous as the Washington power play.

4) A little more than a minute into the second period, the Habs’ pressure paid off in a goal-front scramble. Matt Roy was unable to keep Anderson and Christian Dvorak at bay, and Ovechkin just looked uninterested. Anderson got the puck loose, and Dvorak, falling down, swatted it into the net behind Logan Thompson to give the bleu blanc et rouge their first lead of the series.

5) Emil Heineman almost scored on the very next shift after the Dvorak goal, but the Capitals came back immediately, and Dylan Strome had his chance with a nice tip in the Montreal end, only foiled by Montembeault’s lightning-quick reaction. That was the tipping point of the second period, though, as the Capitals found another gear and began to press.

6) It didn’t take long, and as the Habs were pinned in their own end with about three and a half minutes gone, David Savard fell down behind the Montreal net as he was battling Connor McMichael. McMichael rounded the side of the net and took a shot and Montembeault made a pad save but gave up a rebound. The second shot would have gone wide, but unluckily hit the shin pad of Savard, who had gotten back to the front of the net. Jayden Struble was also out of position, allowing McMichael to take those two shots and score the tying goal.

7) A minute later, it got uglier as the Canadiens misplayed a line change while the Capitals were about to attack. Ryan Leonard, Anthony Beauvillier, and Dylan Strome made a pretty tic-tac-toe passing play to avoid Mike Matheson and Alexandre Carrier, and Strome tapped in his own rebound past Montembeault to give Washington a 2-1 lead.

8) The Habs had two power plays in the period, one from Matt Roy cross-checking Anderson, and a second when Nic Dowd bowled over a puckless Christian Dvorak at centre ice. However, they had little to show for them, and the redshirts dominated the last 18 minutes of the period, recording a total of 18 shots to the Canadiens’ eight. The young Habs looked exhausted and not able to keep up with the Washington attack.

9) The third period was a different story once again: whatever magical motivation Martin St-Louis conjures up, it fired up the Habs once more. The Habs were, much like in Monday’s third period, once again buzzing around the Washington zone, beating the bigger but slower Capitals to the pucks and throwing the puck on the net. Evans hit the post on a shot from the side. Anderson had a breakaway but shot it into Thompson’s pads. Lane Hutson hit the crossbar. And there was more, with the Habs now outshooting the home team 14-5 in the period. Alas, not many of the shots were dangerous, and Thompson was up to the task of turning them away.

10) Montembeault was finally able to skate to the bench with about two minutes remaining, and the bleu blanc et rouge made good use of that time, with control and movement. Juraj Slafkovsky had the team’s best scoring chance of the night with 44 seconds remaining, shooting from about 10 feet out, but shot the puck just slightly wide. Finally, a desperation long pass with a handful of seconds remaining on the clock went slightly astray, and McMichael was able to send a puck into the empty net for a 3-1 win and his second goal of the night.

HW Habs Three Stars

First Star: Christian Dvorak (1g, 0a, 2 shots, +0, 18:01 TOI) scored the sole Montreal goal and also deserves the first star as a proxy for his line–with Anderson and Brendan Gallagher–which was on the ice for the most Montreal scoring chances in the game. Not the highest-skilled line, but there was no lack of energy or effort in their play.

Second Star: Samuel Montembeault (31 shots, 29 saves, .935 save %, 1.36 GSAx) once again held the Canadiens in the game, giving them a chance to win the game. He made a series of excellent saves, particularly in the second period when the Habs were hanging on for dear life. He’s not Carey Price but he’s certainly strong enough to play the top-ranked team in the conference.

Third Star: Lane Hutson (0g, 0a, 0 shots, +0, 25:36 TOI) played the most minutes of any skater tonight. Fragile? Afraid of heavy checks? Easily intimidated? Not Hutson. Drawing on his experience in his first career NHL playoff game, Hutson was stronger on the puck, evading checks and stripping pucks from hulking Washington forwards. If Washington has a plan for neutralizing Hutson, it certainly wasn’t evident on the ice tonight.