The Washington Capitals made the trip up to Montreal for what was their second-to-last road matchup of the season. It was a battle of two teams that will not be participating in this year’s postseason.
Dylan Strome sniped the game’s opening marker past Samuel Montembeault. Nick Suzuki and Joel Armia scored almost back-to-back shorthanded goals to give the Habs the lead. Brendan Gallagher and Armia added two more to double that lead.
Nicklas Backstrom added a consolation tally. Armia empty netter hat trick. Mike Hoffman, touchdown.
Canadiens beat Caps 6-2.
- The Caps got the opening marker in the game but otherwise, the first period wasn’t the greatest. Montreal really took over from there and had a whole lot more of the puck and Darcy Kuemper needed to be very good to keep them off the scoresheet.
- Tom Wilson got into a fight with Michael Pezzetta after the latter hit Nic Dowd hard in the corner. Wilson received the whole instigator combo which includes a ten-minute misconduct. Kinda harsh when you consider Pezzetta was definitely a willing combatant and instigating is so rarely policed consistently.
- Dylan Strome grabbed that opening goal and it was his 20th of the season. It took 78 games for the Caps to find their second player with 20 or more goals. Alex Ovechkin (42) obviously being the first to hit that mark.
the beautiful game pic.twitter.com/pAIQ5kh5c8
— Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) April 6, 2023
- Oh boy was the second period an absolute disaster or what? Terrible awful no good very bad hockey. The Habs put four past the Caps in a less than nine-minute stretch with two of those goals coming shorthanded. A whole lot of guys looking like they gave up when the playoffs went completely out of question.
- If you’re wondering like I was how many shorties the Caps have allowed this season, it’s surprisingly only eight. There are 10 teams with more than them and the Vancouver Canucks sit alone in “first” with a whopping 14 allowed.
- Sonny Milano took back-to-back penalties in the second. I really like Sonny but you can’t do that.
- No Anthony Mantha in the game as he was a late scratch due to injury so the Caps had to play down a man. So, basically a regular game with Mantha actually in the lineup this season. I kid, I kid.
I've never seen a team pretend to be bad as masterfully as the washington capitals of spring 2023. Method acting hockey. Oscar bait.
— good tweet pete 🌮 (@peterhassett) April 7, 2023
- The third was a big nothing period. For some reason, the Caps pulled their netminder and called a timeout down 4-1 in the third in a game that does not matter.
- Alex Ovechkin grabbed his first shot on goal with 15 minutes left in the third. In his last four games, he has just five shots.
- Darcy Kuemper understands the current Bedardty assignment. He allowed 1.5 more goals than expected in this contest.
Joe B and Locker on the call for one of the last road games of the season #joebsuitofthenight pic.twitter.com/Y3tZTCZW1e
— RMNB (@rmnb) April 6, 2023
The Caps will get back on home ice Saturday when they host the Florida Panthers. The Panthers are still right in the thick of the playoff race.
Headline photo courtesy of @jamesfts/Twitter
