The Washington Capitals returned from Raleigh overnight to host the Montreal Canadiens at Capital One Arena on Wednesday. The Caps were looking for a big bounce-back win after dropping two straight.
Josh Anderson was gifted the game’s opening marker on a Jordan Kyrou turnover, but Kyrou made up for it with a goal of his own soon after. Lane Hutson then put the Habs back up one with a rip past Charlie Lindgren. Ivan Miroshnichenko struck on a late first-period power play to send the game to its first intermission tied two goals apiece.
Alex Tuch gave the Capitals their first lead with a shorthanded snipe. Anderson was handed another wide-open chance to tie the game again. Justin Holl floated home his second goal in as many games to put the Caps back in front. Tuch potted another to extend the advantage. Nick Suzuki scored a late power-play goal to draw the Habs back within one.
Capitals beat Canadiens 5-4!
- The Capitals were not good in the first period, but they pounced on the few opportunities that they did get. I don’t think going with brand-new line combinations was the move, as the whole team looked very out of sync to start the night. Washington didn’t create a single five-on-five high-danger chance within the first 20 minutes and gave up four to Montreal.
- The Hutson Bowl started with quite a bang, as Cole Hutson recorded the primary assist on Washington’s first goal and then his brother, Lane Hutson, scored to put the Canadiens up 2-1. Good watch for their parents, Rob and Julie, who were in town to watch their sons do battle. What a set of players those two are.
- Ivan Miroshnichenko scored his first goal of the season in his first game. While some major luck was involved, he likely would have had the primary assist on the goal either way, as Alex Tuch was lined up at the back post waiting for his pass. Instead, Miro banked the puck in off of a defender in front after a great feed from Ilya Protas. Would love to see Miro get hot and stay hot at the NHL level.
- The second period was more of the same from the Capitals at five-on-five. They were a complete mess. According to NaturalStatTrick, they did not record a single five-on-five high-danger chance through 40 minutes and were down 24-5 in scoring chances. Just an utter mauling from the Habs that the Caps were lucky wasn’t ugly on the scoreboard.
- Alex Tuch was a bright spot again, though, striking shorthanded to give the Capitals some life in the second and later to seal their victory in the third. He now has five goals this season and is tied with Seth Jarvis (12) for the second-most shorthanded goals in the NHL since the beginning of the 2022-23 season. Sam Reinhart is first with 13.
- What a weird mess that Miroshnichenko hit on Juraj Slafkovsky turned out to be. The officials ended up getting all of the calls right. It sure seemed like Slafkovsky recovered real quickly once he realized no penalty was going to be called.
- The power play is certainly a work in progress. I think the “first unit” is struggling hardcore to find any chemistry or momentum. It feels like they get on the ice and it’s just Alex Ovechkin, Tom Wilson, and Dylan Strome fumbling the puck around for 80 seconds before the “second unit” comes on and actually creates something resembling offense.
- The Capitals finally registered a five-on-five high-danger chance in the third period. However, overall, the final regulation frame was very low-event for a long while, with neither team wanting to push forward too much in a tied game. But even that can’t stop known elite goal scorer Justin Holl.
- Jordan Kyrou was the best player on the ice for the Capitals for me, finally showing off what a force he can be when he has the puck on his stick more. Really great stuff from both him and Tuch.
- I have nothing bad to say about Charlie Lindgren in net. Maybe a save on Hutson’s goal, but he was also flash-screened on that shot.
The Capitals are off Thursday, then back for their next game on home ice against the New Jersey Devils on Saturday afternoon.
