The Washington Capitals lost their scheduled-loss game against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.
Thirty seconds in, Cole Caufield scored on a breakaway. A bit later, Alex Ovechkin notched no. 23 (aka no. 920) by waiting near the goal mouth. The tie lasted less than a minute, when Caufield scored again.
The Habs extended their lead in the second with goals from Mike Matheson, beating Lindgren glove-side after a power play, and Kirby Dach, on a counterattack rush.
Alex Ovechkin scored again in the third, again in the right place at the right time. But Nick Suzuki got a high-difficulty empty-netter to seal it. Jake Evans further padded it with another one.
Caps lose.
- After a mostly flat first period, the Capitals generated a lot of chances in the second, and got rewarded for it not at all. Natural Stat Trick said Washington had nearly two expected goals. Actual goals: none. Credit to the winning goalie, Jakub Dobes. He was the difference tonight.
- Habs forward and leading scorer Cole Caufield put four shots on goal in the first period, but only half of them went in. The other two were stopped by the goalie – one of them purportedly a highlight. I don’t know if I agree.
- Alex Ovechkin was two and a half periods from going goal-less in the month of February, albeit an Olympic-shortened February. Ovechkin shattered the NHL all-time goal-scoring record (919, held by A. Ovechkin in 2026) and then shattered the NHL all-time goal-scoring record (920, held by A. Ovechkin in 2026).
- Tom Wilson got tied up with Kirby Dach on the latter’s goal. He left the ice gingerly but returned for the third period.
- I don’t know why the team who has played three more games than most of the league is playing back-to-backs, but what do I know?
- I didn’t mention him yet, and that’s my bad. Charlie Lindgren had an unfortunate night. You can and you should find examples where the team ahead of him let him down, but Lindgren still owns the biggest portion of the loss, allowing 2.5 goals more than expected at my last check. That’s the game right there in that stat.
- But there’s plenty of blame to go around, and Jakub Chychrun won’t leave empty-handed. He was on the ice for all but the Dach goal.
- PP bad, even against the 26th ranked Montreal penalty kill. The Caps should have relieved Kirk Muller two months ago. Now Spencer Carbery owns it. Not that anyone will do anything about it.
Tenue de soirée telle qu'elle apparaît sur le torse exquis de Joe Beninati #joebsuitofthenight
Frustrating game. At least Ovi gave us a couple highlights.
For the first time since they became the Mammoth, the Caps will play Utah on Tuesday. And that’ll be the last game before the trade deadline. If they do nothing and it turns out Ovechkin is done, then I’m going to be so pissed. I’d love a flashy forward superstar trade, but I’d appreciate a depth defense upgrade. And failing that, at least change something about the power play.
