For the third time in four nights, the Washington Capitals were on the road, this time in Montreal facing the Canadiens.
The Capitals were lined up as follows:
Offense: Ovechkin–Kuznetsov–Oshie Chimera–Burakovsky–Williams Vrana–Roy–Brown Collins–Stephenson–Galiev
Defense: Chorney–Carlson Stanton–Orlov Siegenthaler–Carrick
Andre Burakovsky started the scoring off at the 1:55 mark of the first period, firing the puck from the slot area with assists from Jason Chimera and Justin Williams.
T.J. Oshie got on the board later in the first with assists from Conner Carrick and Jonas Siegenthaler. Both Siegenthaler and Carrick played a strong game, killing penalties and keeping the Canadiens at bay. In fact, the Caps defense as a whole played well in the first until the Habs sneaked a goal in on their second shot of the game. Former Cap Thomas Fleishmann tucked one underneath Braden Holtby to close the gap to 2-1. Less than a minute later, John Carlson coughed up the puck to Alex Galchenyuk who tied the game at 2.
In the second, Alex Ovechkin took advantage of a flurry of penalties from both sides and scored on the inevitable Capitals power play, his first of the post season with assists from Kuznetsov and Justin Williams. David Desharnais tied the at 3 shortly thereafter.
At the start of the third, the Caps replaced Braden Holtby with Dan Ellis. Holtby wasn't strong tonight, stopping only 10 of 13 Candiens shots through two periods. Dan Ellis was solid throughout the third, stopping all 12 shots he faced. Dustin Tokarski and Mike Condon were very good for the Habs, stopping 19 and 21 shots respectively on the Caps 43 total shots on goal.
After an exciting 3-3 OT, the Caps won in a shootout off a goal from T.J. Oshie, who was the only player the score.
For the most part, the Capitals played well, considering their top-six were in place, minus Nicklas Backstrom who will miss a couple weeks at the start of the season. The defense consisted mainly of prospects and they held their own against a Montreal team who were very quick and played well.
The Caps have a good stock of defensemen that can easily step in this year to fill in for injury if need be. Dan Ellis also proved that he can still handle an NHL-paced game, but whether or not that establishes him as the backup to Braden Holtby is anyone's guess.
While it is still only preseason, we are seeing glimpses of what the regular season will hold. The new players are starting to get comfortable and the veterans are shaking off the cobwebs from another early summer off.
Should be interesting.
More to come...