The Washington Capitals’ long wait for a series win is finally over. The Capitals have claimed their first series win since the 2018 Stanley Cup Final following a 4-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens in Game 5 at Capital One Arena. Washington, the top seed in the Eastern Conference, will advance to battle the Carolina Hurricanes in Round 2. The Canadiens will take valuable lessons from the five-game series loss that will immensely improve their young core moving forward.
A rowdy arena welcomed the Capitals home with their first chance to advance in the playoffs this decade. Pierre-Luc Dubois was whistled for interference against Ivan Demidov to put the Canadiens on the man advantage. Washington killed most of the penalty before the Canadiens were called for a slashing infraction, sending Juraj Slafkovsky to the penalty box at 8:34.
Less than a minute later, Alex Ovechkin opened the scoring for Washington with a power-play goal at 9:12 of the first period for a 1-0 lead. Capitals center Dylan Strome won a faceoff clean to a waiting Ovechkin for the lightning-quick, one-timer goal. Washington’s captain tied Pittsburgh Penguins legend Mario Lemieux for 12th all-time in NHL history with his 76th postseason goal. Ovechkin passed Lemieux with his 30th power-play goal in the playoffs and moves into a fifth-place tie with Joe Pavelski and Nicklas Lidstrom.
OOOOOOOO WHAT A SHOT#ALLCAPS | @BlueHalo pic.twitter.com/0p5nKVnRnH
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) April 30, 2025
Two minutes later, Capitals Jakob Chychrun doubled the Capitals’ lead to 2-0. After collecting a rebound, Tom Wilson passed the puck along the wall to Dubois behind the net. The Capitals winger moved to his right towards the faceoff dot before locating Chychrun cutting towards the back post and sending a terrific pass to the defenseman’s stick blade to create the scoring chance. Chychryn became only the third defenseman in Capitals history to score a series-clinching goal, joining Calle Johansson in 1994 and Scott Stevens in 1986.
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Wilson scored on the power play late in the second period to give Washington a 3-0 lead in the contest. After Dobes made a diving stop, John Carlson attempted a wraparound to stuff the puck across the goal line. While that attempt was denied, the resulting rebound popped out to Wilson for his second goal of the series and a seemingly insurmountable advantage for the Capitals.
Secondary scoring provided some hope for the Canadiens early in the third period. Emil Heineman’s first career postseason goal at 2:40 of the third period trimmed the Capitals’ lead to 3-1. Washington’s defense tightened over the remaining 17 minutes of regulation to secure the win. Brandon Duhaime sealed the game with an empty-net goal with 25.6 seconds left to stamp Washington’s ticket into the next round.
Washington’s goalie, Logan Thompson, backstopped the Capitals to their first series win with 27 saves on 28 shots. He started all five games of the series despite being removed for the final 6:37 of Game 3 after being accidentally struck in the head by his teammate, Strome, in the third period of their only loss to the Canadians in Round 1.
With the majority of action still underway during Round 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Washington and Carolina should have time to heal from their opening series wounds. The teams met once in the NHL postseason, during a seven-game series battle in Round 1 of the 2019 Playoffs. That series ended with Brock McGinn scoring a double-overtime goal for the Hurricanes, which eliminated the defending Stanley Cup champion Capitals.
