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Thanksgiving thumping: Capitals beat Canadiens 6-3

The Washington Capitals were back home Wednesday night for what feels like the first time in a month. Waiting for them were the Montreal Canadiens.

Nic Dowd went to the cage and got the good guys on the board first, John Carlson struck on a power play, Michael Sgarbossa got his first for the Caps on a weird deflection, and then Carlson decided to gift Jake Evans a late first period goal.

Cole Caufield got the luckiest bounce of all time to cut the lead to two. Tom Wilson buried a perfect feed from Alex Ovechkin. Dmitry Orlov banked one home to make it six. Lehkonen with a late breakaway.

Capitals beat Canadiens 6-3!

  • The Capitals beat the absolute mess out of the Canadiens in the first period. They could have easily been up five or six goals after the opening twenty minutes. Fantastic response to that brutal road trip.
  • Nic Dowd got the scoring underway with a goal scored on NBC Sports Washington amidst technical difficulties that made it look and sound like aliens were landing in the middle of Capital One Arena.
  • Ilya Samsonov‘s shutout streak ended at just over 170 minutes as John Carlson decided to literally just give the Habs a goal. A backhand pass up the middle literally directly to Jake Evans. Very on-brand.

  • I didn’t like the second as much. Felt like the Caps got away from what was working which was putting the puck behind the Habs net and forechecking them to death. At the same time, it took an absolute garbage bounce to ensure Montreal didn’t leave the period down three goals.
  • Bad news. Justin Schultz left the game with an upper-body injury. The injury bug continues to stick around the Capitals.
  • I have no idea how the Capitals had only one power-play through two periods. I hate that taking a lead in the NHL means it becomes impossible to draw a penalty.
  • That all Hershey fourth line was excellent. The puck seemingly never left the Canadiens zone with them on the ice.

  • Alex Ovechkin. What a player.
  • The third was pretty slow as it was clear the Habs just entirely gave up after the Caps scored their fifth. The Lehkonen goal robs us of Bailamos.
  • Kelly Sutherland is annoyingly bad at his job.

Next up for the Caps is a weird 5 PM start time on Friday against the Florida Panthers who have still only lost twice in regulation this season.

Screenshot via @Capitals

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