After a successful three-game home stand, the Washington
Capitals took to the road last night to face the Montreal Canadiens at Bell
Centre. While the Caps were wrapping up
their three-win homestand, the Canadiens were dropping a pair of games to the
Boston Bruins, one by a 5-2 margin in Montreal, the other in a shutout at TD
Garden, 4-0.
One would not have been able to guess these teams’ recent
fortunes based on how they started the contest.
Montreal scored on their first shift when Erik Cole whacked in a rebound
of a P.K. Subban shot. They were not
done. The Canadiens would score on each of their next two shots. Their second goal came at 3:22 when Max
Pacioretty notched his third of the young season on a deflection of a Tomas
Kaberle drive. The third came when Tomas
Plekanec picked Dmitry Orlov’s pocket and roofed a shot over goalie Michal
Neuvirth’s right shoulder to make it 3-0.
Montreal made it 4-0 when Scott Gomez stepped out from
behind the Caps’ net and snapped a shot past Neuvirth on the short side. That goal ended Neuvirth’s night in favor of
Braden Holtby. The change in goaltenders
did not have its intended effect. Holtby
allowed a goal on the first shot he faced, misplaying what looked like a
harmless wrist shot from defenseman Josh Gorges through his five-hole. Montreal had a 5-0 lead on only nine
shots. They did not score on any of the
four shots they had to close the period, but the Caps skated off shell-shocked
at being down 5-0.
The second period was plodding along with Montreal skating
not to make a mistake and the Caps looking disorganized. Things livened up, though, when either Troy Brouwer
ran goalie Carey Price in his crease, or Brouwer was pushed into him by Gorges,
depending on whose point of view you are listening to. Price got up and threw several punches with
his blocker at Brouwer, and Ryan White joined the fray in defense of his
goaltender. The skaters paired off, but
except for a few shoves from Colby Armstrong and Jason Chimera, a larger brawl
was avoided.
What the Caps could not avoid, though, was more damage on
the scoreboard. With Mike Green off for tripping,
David Desharnais made it 6-0 when he wristed a shot past Hotlby at the 12:02
mark of the period. The Canadiens added
another power play goal late in the frame when Cole notched his second of the
game off a feed from Subban, who also had the primary assist on Cole’s first
goal of the night. The 7-0 score would
be how the period ended.
The Caps ruined Price’s shutout early in the third period when
Roman Hamrlik scored on a drive that hit Josh Gorges skate in front and snuck
under Price’s pads. That would be all
the Caps would get, though, and it would end the scoring for the evening. The Caps five-game points streak to open the
season came crashing to earth with a loud thud, 7-1.
Canadiens 7 -
Capitals 1
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