For about 55 minutes, the rematch of last spring’s first-round matchup between the Washington Capitals and Montreal Canadiens lived up to the hype in a tightly contested affair. Then Alexander Ovechkin put the game out of reach with his second and third goals of the night to complete the hat trick, the game ending in an 8-4 decision in favour of the visiting Caps.
Game Recap
Ovechkin, who also opened the scoring a minute into the game on the power play, scored his second at 16:03 of the third period on a three-on-one rush to make the score 6-4. He added an empty-net goal almost two minutes later. Sonny Milano brought an end to the scoring with his second of the game soon thereafter, with goalie Jakub Dobes back in net.
Canadiens goalie Sam Montembeault had started the game, but got pulled 3:38 into the second period after Capitals forward Ethen Frank scored two quick ones at the start of the frame to make it 3-1. After Habs forward Joe Veleno scored his first with the team to bring the home side within one, Caps defenseman Jakob Chychrun re-established the two-goal lead to round out the scoring for the visitors.
On that play, Capitals forward Tom Wilson hit Jake Evans with a high, late hit that ended up taking the Canadiens forward out of the game. Already dealing with a bevy of injuries, the Habs had to press on shorthanded, ultimately losing to a team that had played the night before and started their backup, ex-Hab Charlie Lindgren. The 10-7-3 Canadiens dropped to 1-4-3 in their last eight, as the 11-8-2 Capitals leapfrogged them in the standings.
Related: Projected Lineups for Capitals vs Canadiens – 11/20/25
The Canadiens also got goals from Nick Suzuki, who pulled the Habs within one once more, after the Chychrun goal, and Mike Matheson, who made it 5-4 in the third period, after Milano had scored at the end of the second. Brendan Gallagher got the Habs on the board at the end of the first to tie the game 1-1 with his first of the season.
Gallagher’s goal came on the power play, which was the one real positive on the night for the Canadiens, as they ended a streak of futility on the man advantage that had lasted six games. With the goal, Gallagher passed Bob Gainey on the team’s all-time goal list with his 240th career goal to take sole possession of 15th place.
For his part, Ovechkin, obviously the NHL’s all-time goals leader, scored a game-high four total points on the night (along with Frank) to pass Joe Sakic (1,641) as the league’s new 10th all-time scorer (1,643).