Montreal Canadiens Crunch Washington Capitals, 6-3, Cut Washington’s Series Lead To 2-1

The Washington Capitals knew the tenor of the series would be harsh coming into Montreal with a 2-0 series lead. But Game 3 was brutal beyond expectation, and it came with a body count.

Connor McMichael picked up where he left off in Game 2, opening up Game 3 by beating Mike Matheson in the crease after a pass from Matt Roy. In the last minute of the first period, Alexandre Carrier made the best of a turnover and a screen to tie it 1-1.

Nick Suzuki gave the Canadiens the lead with a backhand goal off a power-play draw. The third line did great work to extend offensive-zone time and set up Jakob Chychrun for a big slapshot goal. But in the final seconds, Cole Caufield got a great pass from Lane Hudson to make it 3-2 after two periods.

Alex Ovechkin scored a couple minutes into the third, on the rush, with Dylan Strome finding him in the drift. Christian Dvorak put a puck on net and got rewarded for it, putting the Habs up 4-3 with 15 minutes left. With seven minutes left, Slafkovsky made it 5-3 as Logan Thompson went down to injury. Alex Newhook extended the lead with a power-play goal late.

Caps lose. Caps lead the series 2-1.

• Haven’t seen this many dives since my Crimson Tide, The Hunt for Red October, U-571 triple feature movie marathon.
• Again, Chris is right in his analysis:

• Connor McMichael scored twice in Game 2 and kept it going three minutes into Game 3. Except he followed that with a turnover leading to Carrier’s goal in the final minute. That turnover would be in good company as the game went on.
• That was the theme: late goals and turnovers. John Carlson coughed up one to Suzuki on a power play. Wilson made a baffling drop pass to the same guy. Mangiapane got caught chasing the Caufield goal, which was made possible by Sandin’s turnover. Washington had safe options all night, and all night they said “nah, let’s be heroes” and did something dopey instead. Just send it along the boards and get it out of the zone.
• Alex Ovechkin had one shot on goal through two periods. It seemed like, when Martin St. Louis had the option, he put the Suzuki line out against Ovi. But they were on the ice when Ovi cruised into their zone to tie the game early in the third, so that matchup isn’t fool-proof when the Caps are passing well. It’s just that they weren’t otherwise passing well.
• It was an awful night for goalies at both ends. Habs backstop Sam Montembault left the game mysteriously during the second period. In came Jakub Dobes, who faced one shot, Chychrun’s, in the final eight minutes of that period.
• Logan Thompson left the game injured following the Juraj Slafkovsky goal. Dylan Strome ran into him, causing an apparent lower-body injury. Thompson had looked shaken up earlier in the night after taking a puck up high – possibly a strategy by the Canadiens – but stayed in. After the collision, Thompson needed help getting off the ice, putting no weight on one leg. Bell Center booed him on his way out.

• Lars Eller was a gritty little danish terrier before the Chychrun goal and generally Washington’s best forward. And then he said this, and I thought he’d go saiyan in the third. Didn’t happen though.

• Brandon Duhaime was on the other side of the ledger with two regrettable penalties that kept him away from doing what he was actually doing pretty well – quieting the Montreal middle-six forwards. I’m still not totally convinced he connected with David Savard on the illegal check to head call; I’ll watch again. He was on the hook again for Dvorak’s go-ahead goal in the third. Brutal night for a usually dependable role-player.
• Alright, so let’s do this briefly. For a lot of reasons, I try not to complain about penalties in here. One of those reasons is that it’s just not fun to write or read. And so, rather than saying the officials favored the home-ice Habs, I’ll just say that the standard of punishment was très arbitraire. You never knew what would be a penalty or not, and that created an incentive for dives and post-whistle scrums, which just escalated matters. And tensions were haute before the first puck drop. I’m not alone in thinking this way.
• It culminated in the on-bench battle between Tom Wilson and Josh Anderson at the end of the second period. That was not remotely a fair trade, losing both players for half the third period. I guess I harbor some tiny hope that it will set off an absurd, long series of events that will result in the team self-destructing, a la New York Rangers. Other than that, it was a loss.
• The Habs had five power plays. The Caps had two.

I hated this game. I hated it before it started. This game came dressed as the Babadook, but I was really hoping for more of a grown-ups drinking wine vibe. I had taken the day off work. I played in the garden. I hung out with a dog. I made a nice breakfast for me and Aileen. All day I was trying to manifest calm and a congenial spirit of “oh, the Caps are up 3-0 in the series? that’s nice.”

I was denied. Choppy, chippy, sloppy, slipshod, hectic, harried, infuriating, incompetent, disappointing, disastrous. The Caps weren’t just careless with the puck; they were inept. Turnovers, giveaways, failed clears, and extra passes – they were all too common and all unwelcome. They forgot which part was the better part of valor, and they lost every single penalty decision.

See you Sunday.