The Canadiens defeated yet another recent Stanley Cup winner with a 3-2 overtime victory over the Capitals at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., on Friday night.
Since beating the reigning champion Florida Panthers on Dec. 28, the Habs have earned wins over five of the last six Cup recipients.
Captain Nick Suzuki was the overtime hero with his 13th goal of the campaign.
Jakub Dobes stood tall in goal, stopping 15 of 17 shots in his third career start. Montreal outshot Washington 30-17 in the win.
With Michael Pezzetta in the box, defenceman Jakob Chychrun opened scoring on the power play at 2:56 of the first period.
As time expired in the first period, Lane Hutson nearly responded with a power-play goal of his own. Former Hab Charlie Lindgren made the save for the Caps.
Early in the second period, Lindgren was replaced in goal by Logan Thompson after taking contact from Suzuki (with a little help from Brandon Duhaime). He was removed from the game by concussion spotters.
The Habs tied it up 1-1 at 4:56 of the second period when Cole Caufield scored his fifth goal in as many games. Juraj Slafkovsky set him up with the slick feed. Caufield is up to 23 goals on the season.
Montreal got their first lead of the night at 13:22 of the second when Josh Anderson scored shorthanded on a breakaway. He went top shelf with his backhander.
The Capitals tied it up 2-2 in the third period when Ethan Frank, in his first NHL game, beat out Arber Xhekaj on the icing and set up a wide-open Lars Eller in front.
It was a quiet third period for Pezzetta and Jayden Struble. The former didnât see the ice again after losing his man Eller on the Washington goal, while Struble was glued to the bench the entire third frame after taking two minor penalties earlier in the night.
Off to overtime they went. At the end of a long shift, the captain tried to feed Caufield, but ended up getting the puck back on his stick. He beat Thompson to seal a 3-2 overtime road win for the Canadiens. Caufield and Lane Hutson assisted on the goal. Hutson is now up to 28 points on the season.
Patrik Laine and David Savard did not travel with the team to D.C. and remained out of the lineup.
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Hereâs what they had to say about last nightâs impressive showing over the Eastern Conference-leading Capitals.
3. âThe resilience of this team is impressive. Fell behind, got the lead, gave up the lead, won in OT. They donât let adversity panic them or alter their play. Maturity. Having said that, I would like to see them take a 3-0 lead in a game and cruise to an easy win. Maybe against Utah.â â Michael Way
2. âPenalty trouble and a bit of a slow start, but once they got into the game they slowly took it over. Another impressive win. In this whole stretch since Christmas they have been the best team in every game, even the loss to Chicago. This team is just plain playing, never quit, good hockey. Another solid performance by Dobes. Heâs playing like he wants to stay. MSL shortening the bench again near the end of this one. Heâs playing to win now.â â Doug Kirkby
1. â2 points back of the free falling bruins with 2 games in hand.â â Tyler Cunningham