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NHL: Washington Capitals at Montreal Canadiens
Credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images

The Montreal Canadiens hosted the Washington Capitals on Thursday night, looking to avoid a fifth-consecutive loss.

It was an exciting, goal-filled game, though it has to be said that Montreal continues to receive very poor goaltending, one of the key factors behind the 8-4 loss to the Capitals.

Let’s dive into the highlights!

Stumbling Out Of The Gate

The Capitals scored on their very first shot of the game, and it was none other than Alex Ovechkin who set the tone.

It was a perfectly predictable start to the game, as Canadiens goalies refuse to save the first shot of the game this season, and Ovechkin absolutely loves playing against the Habs.

Keep It Simple Shooter

It’s no secret the Habs have struggled on the powerplay in recent games, and the first powerplay unit continued to display the same type lack of confidence on Thursday night, regardless of the players used.

Martin St-Louis decided to use Cole Caufield in the slot, while Juraj Slafkovsky lined-up for a one-timer. Shockingly, this perfectly logical setup failed to produce any semblance of offence.

The good news is the second powerplay unit scored a goal that was far from pretty, but just like every woman who has accepted to go out on a date with me eventually realizes, ugly can be fun.

Brendan Gallagher’s goal, his first of the season, was a good reminder that you can’t throw logic out of the window when deciding upon powerplay roles.

Goaltending Situation Worsens

The Capitals quickly established a 3-1 lead, leading to an early goalie switch by St-Louis. More accurately, it was early relative to his standards.

St-Louis rarely pulls his goalies, even when things are going horribly wrong, making Thursday night’s goalie switch a rare event.

I don’t want to place all the blame on Montembeault’s shoulders for the poor goaltending, as the Habs are playing with the focus of a juvenile squirrel in their own zone, but there’s no denying he’s playing without confidence.

And as we always say, when a goalie has no confidence, it quickly spreads to the rest of the lineup. It should be noted that the Capitals scored three goals on 10 shots, and not eight, as I wrote in the tweet embedded below.

He’s ALIIIIIIIIIVE!

The Montreal Canadiens responded well to the goalie switch, at least at first. Joe Veleno finally managed to score his first goal of the year, with a little help from Brendan Gallagher and Jared Davidson on the forecheck, not to mention a great pass by Mike Matheson.

Sure, Gallagher could have been penalized on the play, but you know what they say.

If you’re not cheating, you’re not trying.

Speaking of cheating.

Tom Wilson delivered a clear-cut elbow to Jake Evans, just moments before Jakob Chychrun made it 4-2.

Seeing as the Habs scored on a play that should have been whistled down, I suppose it was a fair trade in that respect, but it was definitely a nasty bit of business by Wilson.

Evans attempted to return to the ice, but was eventually forced to leave the game due to the play.

Confidence Gone

Nick Suzuki temporarily cut the Capitals lead to just one, after a lucky bounce landed the puck directly on his stick.

Emphasis on ‘temporarily’.

While Montembeault continues to struggle, the same can now be said of Dobes, the worst possible scenario for the Canadiens.

Dobes overplayed the fifth Capitals goal of the game, though Washington was helped along by a terrible Veleno giveaway, and a poorly-timed stumble by Alex Carrier.

Easy Math

Mike Matheson, who is quietly having a very solid season, then scored his fourth goal of the season, giving the Habs much-needed life in the third period, and cutting the Capitals lead to 5-4.

The Canadiens may be honouring Stevie Wonder when they’re attempting to play defence, but at the very least, they showed a respectable amount of push back on Thursday night. As is often the case in hockey, it was too little, much too late, as Ovechkin would go on to earn a hat-trick, powering the Capitals to a well-deserved 8-4 win.

The Montreal Canadiens are back in action on Saturday, facing the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Bell Centre. The puck drop is scheduled for 7 pm ET.

All Montreal Canadiens statistics are 5v5 unless otherwise noted, via Natural Stat Trick.

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By Marc Dumont
Marc has been covering the Habs for over a decade. He previously worked for Journal Metro, The Athletic, The ... More about Marc Dumont

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