Caps lose Game 3 — and their goalie — on a chippy night in Montreal

Washington Post

26-04-2025

MONTREAL — The roar was deafening before anyone was even on the ice.
Bell Centre hasn't been at full force in the Stanley Cup playoffs since 2017, and the NHL's largest building — with its most fervent fanbase — rose to the occasion for Game 3 of the first-round series between the Montreal Canadiens and the Washington Capitals on Friday night. As the video board showed a torch being passed, projections of flames began at the mouth of Montreal's tunnel and spread across the entire ice surface. Somehow, the crowd grew louder with each flicker of the fire.
The Canadiens' home crowd and a series of unforced errors for Washington lifted Montreal to a 6-3 win. The Capitals lead the series 2-1, with Game 4 set for Sunday.
Both starting goaltenders left the game with injuries. Logan Thompson made 30 saves on 35 shots before being injured in a collision with Dylan Strome with 6:37 left to play; Charlie Lindgren made four saves in relief. Sam Montembeault stopped 11 of 13 before he left midway through the second; Jakub Dobes made seven saves on eight shots after he came in.
The story for the Capitals in Games 1 and 2 was that they were the better team for the majority of each night, but cracks appeared when Montreal made a push in the third period. On Friday, the push from the Canadiens came from the moment the puck dropped, as the delirious Bell Centre injected the home team with the kind of energy seems to only exist here in Montreal. The 23 Stanley Cup banners that hang from the rafters imbue every moment with a sense of history, history Canadiens' fans are calling on with every chant.
But despite being overwhelmed in the run of play in the first few minutes, it was Washington that struck first. Forward Connor McMichael scored his third goal in two games just 3:20 in, tipping a shot by defenseman Matt Roy past Montembeault from close range.
Goals from the visiting team typically silence the home crowd. In Montreal, they were chanting 'Go Habs go! Go Habs go!' before the next faceoff. The Canadiens, sparked by their crowd, quickly resumed their dominance on the offensive end of the ice. Thompson had to make three saves on Juraj Slafkovsky in the span of 13 seconds, among the 14 saves he made in the first period.
Montreal received the game's first power play just over four minutes after McMichael's goal, when rookie winger Ryan Leonard was whistled for unsportsmanlike conduct. The Capitals killed the penalty, but it didn't do much to draw any momentum to their side.
Washington was less than 60 seconds from taking its lead into the first intermission when McMichael turned the puck over at the top of the faceoff circle, which allowed Alex Newhook to set up Alexandre Carrier for a point shot that beat Thompson through traffic with just 53 seconds left in the first period.
Thompson took a slash to his helmet by Nick Suzuki in the final seconds of the period, giving the Capitals 1:21 of carryover time on the power play to start the second. They couldn't convert on the opportunity.
At the 8:33 mark of the period, winger Brandon Duhaime hit David Savard high and went to the box for an illegal check to the head. Montreal needed just four seconds to score. Suzuki capitalized on a turnover from defenseman John Carlson and backhanded the puck over Thompson to give the Canadiens their first lead.
Washington has let momentum snowball in the wrong direction for stretches of this series, but just 2:10 after Suzuki's goal, defenseman Jakob Chychrun fired a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle that tied the game at 2.
Once again, though, the Capitals couldn't get out of the final minute unscathed. Defenseman Rasmus Sandin, trying to make a breakout pass, turned the puck over directly to Lane Hutson, who one-touched a pass to Cole Caufield wide open at the back post. Caufield's go-ahead tally came with just nine seconds left in the middle frame.
A scrum kicked off in front of Washington's bench after the horn sounded on the second period. As the two teams came together, winger Tom Wilson and Montreal's Josh Anderson tangled to such a degree that they wound up wrestling one another inside the Capitals' bench — nearly collecting Coach Spencer Carbery, who had not left the bench yet, in the process. Anderson and Wilson each received a minor penalty for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct; Lars Eller and Arber Xhekaj also received minors for roughing.
Montembeault left the game with an apparent lower-body injury at the 11:39 mark of the second period. Washington recorded only one shot on goal in the rest of the frame after that.
Of the mere 14 shots on goal the Capitals had through 40 minutes, none of them were from captain Alex Ovechkin. Just 2:39 into the third period, he changed that. Off a feed from Strome, Ovechkin rifled a shot past Dobes to tie things at 3.
Washington's self-inflicted wounds hadn't closed yet, though, and the Canadiens regained the lead less than two minutes later. Defenseman Matt Roy missed a chance to win the puck deep in the defensive zone, and Christian Dvorak's shot deflected into the net off the stick of Duhaime in front. Montreal led, 4-3, with 15:43 left to play.
Slafkovsky extended the Canadiens' lead with 6:37 left, as Strome was colliding with Thompson. When Thompson attempted to stand up, he couldn't put weight on his left leg and needed assistance off the ice.
Alex Newhook added the sixth goal for Montreal with 2:25 left.