Alex Ovechkin scored two goals, including the winner in overtime, to lift the Washington Capitals to a 3-2 victory over the visiting Montreal Canadiens in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series on Monday.
It was Ovechkin’s first career playoff overtime goal. He also notched an assist for Washington, which squandered a two-goal lead in the third period but rallied in the extra session. Anthony Beauvillier finished with a goal and an assist, and Dylan Strome logged three assists.
“There was a lot of ‘poor me’ (after Montreal tied it up),” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said. “… We needed to regroup there and find ourselves again.”
Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki scored for Montreal, each on an assist from Lane Hutson.
Ovechkin, 39, added another highlight to a magical season in which he surpassed Wayne Gretzky as the NHL’s all-time goal scoring leader. He sealed the series opener after the Capitals won a faceoff in the offensive zone and Beauvillier found him open in front of the net.
The tally was the 74th career playoff goal for Ovechkin, who finished the regular season with 897 career goals, three more than Gretzky.
“He’s a beast,” Capitals teammate Tom Wilson said. “He’s a machine. He’s out there creating energy for our team, scoring, he does it all. He does everything for us. That’s what a leader does.”
Washington goaltender Logan Thompson stopped 33 of 35 shots to earn the victory.
Montreal netminder Sam Montembeault allowed three goals on 32 shots.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is scheduled for Wednesday in Washington.
“(It was) a start that we knew, we’re probably going to have to weather the storm and really feel what that feels like – the pressure, the physicality, the pace of the game,” Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. “But I felt like we caught up to it and we started executing more. We spent more time in the (offensive) zone. I feel like we got better as the game went on.
“I feel like in terms of what we tried to do out there tonight, I thought it was a pretty good first game. There was a lot of good stuff. Unfortunately, you don’t win, but we got some really good stuff from this game.”
Ovechkin opened the scoring on a power-play goal with 1:26 remaining in the first period. Wilson zipped a pass across the ice for Ovechkin, who steadied the puck at the top of the left circle and fired a low shot into the net.
The Capitals increased their lead to 2-0 with 7:51 to go in the second period. Beauvillier hunted down a rebound in front of the crease and punched it past Montembeault.
Montreal pulled within 2-1 with 9:28 remaining in the third period. On a power play, Caufield flipped in a loose puck in front of the crease to subdue the hostile crowd.
The goal marked a small bit of redemption for Caufield, who was sent flying backward to the ice after Ovechkin drilled him with a shoulder check late in the second period.
The Canadiens evened the score at 2-all with 4:15 left in the third period. Thompson stopped an initial flurry of shots, but his momentum pulled him out of position to the right side of the crease, and Suzuki capitalized with a shot into the vacated net.
–Field Level Media
