On To Montreal! Capitals Down Canadiens 3-1, Take 2-0 Series Lead


Photo: @Capitals/X

The Washington Capitals downed the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night in Game 2 of their first round series of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs by a score of 3-1. The victory puts the Caps ahead 2-0 in the series as Game 3 moves to Montreal on Friday. Logan Thompson made 25 stops in the victory.

After a scoreless first period, Christian Dvorak’s second period tally put the Canadiens on the board first, which was quickly followed by strikes from Connor McMichael and Dylan Strome, which was a lead the Caps held through the second and into the third. Logan Thompson stood on his head late in regulation with a number of spectacular stops to keep Washington ahead. McMichael added a second goal on an empty-net to solidify the Caps’ 3-1 lead. The Capitals finished with 32 shots to 26 from Montreal, and neither team scored on their power play opportunities.

LINEUP

Logan Thompson (1-0, 1.92 GAA, .943 SV %) got the start between the pipes for the Capitals. Sam Montembeault (0-1, 2.89 GAA, .906 SV %) returned in goal for the Canadiens. The starting forward lines and defensive pairs for the Capitals remained unchanged:

Alex Ovechkin — Dylan Strome —Anthony Beauvillier
Connor McMichael – Pierre-Luc Dubois — Tom Wilson
Andrew Mangiapane – Lars Eller — Ryan Leonard
Brandon Duhaime — Nic Dowd — Taylor Raddysh

Jakob Chychrun — John Carlson
Rasmus Sandin — Matt Roy
Alex Alexeyev – Trevor van Riemsdyk

Logan Thompson
Charlie Lindgren

Scratches: Dylan McIlrath, Ethan Bear, Ethan Frank, Clay Stevenson.

Injured: Martin Fehervry (out for the playoffs following knee surgery), Aliaksei Protas (lower-body), Sonny Milano (upper-body), Nicklas Backstrom (hip), T.J. Oshie (back).

1ST PERIOD

The first period concluded with neither club able to score. The Capitals failed to convert on the period’s lone power play and the first twenty minutes ended with Washington outshooting the Habs by a 10-4 margin.

Photo: NaturalStatTrick

2ND PERIOD

Just over a minute into the second frame, Montreal’s Christian Dvorak poked the puck under the pad of Logan Thompson to give the visitors their first lead of the series.

The Habs’ lead lasted just over two minutes, as pressure from the Capitals found Connor McMichael all alone against Sam Montembeault, with the puck caroming off the Montreal defense to knot the score at 1-1; Taylor Raddysh recorded the lone assist.

Dylan Strome notched his first goal of the postseason on a beautiful passing play from Anthony Beauvillier and Ryan Leonard, giving the Caps a 2-1 lead at the 4:47 mark.

The Caps held their lead into the second intermission, and maintained their hold in the Shots on Goal department, 27-12 through forty minutes of play.

3RD PERIOD

The Capitals added an empty-net goal from Connor McMichael, while Logan Thompson dazzled in net to the appreciation of Capital One Arena faithful.

The Caps’ 3-1 victory gave the home team a 2-0 series lead as Game 3 commences on Friday at Centre Bell in Montreal.

ICE SHAVINGS

  • NHL Box Score
  • Ryan Leonard’s second period assist made him the youngest Capitals player to record a point in the postseason since Andre Burakovsky in 2015

About Michael Fleetwood

Michael Fleetwood was born into a family of diehard Capitals fans and has been watching games as long as he can remember. He was born the year the Capitals went to their first Stanley Cup Final, and is a diehard Caps fan, the owner of the very FIRST Joe Beninati jersey and since then, has met Joe himself.

Michael joined the NoVa Caps team in 2015, and is most proud of the growth of the NoVa Caps community in that time. An avid photographer, Michael resides in VA.





Source link

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR