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Offense, offense, and some more offense: Caps beat Canadiens 6-4

By Chris Cerullo

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March 24, 2018 9:53 pm

The famed Bell Centre is always a fantastic venue for a hockey game and the Washington Capitals met the Montreal Canadiens there tonight in an Eastern Conference battle. The Caps offense took advantage of a very banged up, very bad Habs team.

Alex Galchenyuk capitalized on a defensive zone giveaway to open the scoring. Evgeny Kuznetsov in his first game back from injury tied things up on the power play. Tom Wilson struck twice in quick succession to give the Caps the lead.

Jay Beagle tapped home his seventh of the season to extend the advantage further. Charles Hudon put in a high deflection with one second left in the second period. Kuznetsov added another power play marker in the third and TJ Oshie deflected one more home. Hudon again. Drouin added a late one.

Caps beat Canadiens 6-4!

  • What an insane first period. Big saves from both Price and Grubauer, four goals, Ovi falling on a breakaway, early Caps defensive miscues, a successful offside challenge, and hey that’s Smokin’ Al not Joe B.
  • Tom Wilson scored two of those four goals in the period and Nicklas Backstrom assisted on both of them and the other Caps goal. We’re used to Backstrom showing off the pair of eyes he has in the back of his head, but Wilson continuing his breakout season is one of the biggest storylines of the season.

  • That “other Caps goal” was scored by a returning Evgeny Kuznetsov on the power play. The Caps offense dearly missed their second leading point and goal scorer when he was out, so it’s really great to see him jump out of the gates and immediately return to the scoresheet with two goals.
  • The Capitals are now 41-1-5 whenever Jay Beagle scores a goal. With all of these recent arguments over who should be considered for a Hart Trophy nomination, I think this is all the evidence Jay needs.
  • Following the death of his son Axel, Erik Karlsson receives an emotional standing ovation in his return to the Ottawa Senators lineup.
  • Backstrom’s four assists gave him his 20th career game with at least four points.

  • This is a foregone conclusion at this point, but Philipp Grubauer was very solid once again even though the Habs scored four goals. You cant fault him for really any of the Canadiens goals other than the fourth one, so gotta keep riding the hot hand.
  • Stick taps to Jakub Jerabek for using TJ Oshie as a backboard to earn an assist in a revenge game against his former club.
  • The two Caps, Wilson and Alex Ovechkin, you’d want to score the empty netter both whiffed on their chances.
  • Cara’s Loyola Chicago Ramblers are going to the Final Four! I guess Sister Jean really did give up losing for Lent.

Joe B suit of the college hockey night.

The Caps stay on the road for their next one, going to New York to play Hank and the Rangers. If the Caps go at least 5-2 in their last seven games of the season they will win the division regardless of how well the Penguins do.

Full Coverage of Caps at Canadiens

Headline photo: Francois Lacasse

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