Tom Wilson Strikes Twice In Third, Washington Capitals Overcome Montreal Canadiens, 4-2


Photo: @Capitals

The Washington Capitals beat the Montreal Canadiens by a score of 4-2 at Bell Centre on Saturday night to improve to 19-6-2 (.741 points percentage) this season and win their ninth straight road game. Washington is 6-0-1 since losing their first two games with Alex Ovechkin out of the lineup in regulation. Goaltender Logan Thompson made 22 saves in the win.

Washington’s Lines

Aliaksei Protas – Dylan Strome – Tom Wilson
Connor McMichael – Pierre-Luc Dubois – Taylor Raddysh
Hendrix Lapierre – Lars Eller – Andrew Mangiapane
Brandon Duhaime – Nic Dowd – Ivan Miroshnichenko

Martin Fehervary – John Carlson
Rasmus Sandin – Matt Roy
Jakob Chychrun – Trevor Van Riemsdyk

Thompson
Charlie Lindgren

Scratched

  • LW Jakub Vrana
  • D Dylan McIlrath
  • D Alexander Alexeyev

Injured

  • Ovechkin (fractured fibula)
  • LW Sonny Milano (upper-body)
  • C Nicklas Backstrom (hip)
  • RW T.J. Oshie (back)

Eller played his 500th game with Washington.

Montreal’s Lines

Cole Caufield – Nick Suzuki – Alex Newhook
Juraj Slafkovsky – Kirby Dach – Patrik Laine
Josh Anderson – Christian Dvorak – Brendan Gallagher
Emil Heineman – Jake Evans – Joel Armia

Lane Hutson – Mike Matheson
Kaiden Guhle – Jayden Struble
Arber Xhekaj – David Savard

Sam Montembeault
Cayden Primeau

Scratched

  • D Justin Barron
  • C Michael Pezzetta

Injured

First Period

Scoring

  • 11:09, 1-0 Montreal: Newhook ripped a wrist shot over the glove of Thompson from the right dot after Caufield fed him from the right half-wall.
  • 16:01, 2-0: Caufield ripped another wrister that squeaked under the blocker of Thompson from the left dot after Suzuki caught a turnover in the offensive zone and sent Caufield a cross-ice feed from the slot.

Stats

  • 11-9 Montreal in shots
  • .533 Washington on faceoffs
  • Washington did not score on their first power play
  • 11-10 Washington in hits
  • 7-4 Montreal in blocked shots
  • 3-2 Washington in giveaways
Graphs: Natural StatTrick


Second Period

Scoring

  • 0:34, 2-1: Dubois blasted a one-timer from the top past the blocker of Montembault after Raddysh picked the puck out of a corner battle, passed the puck to Fehervary who was at the top, and Fehervary set up Dubois. Dubois’ 22 points (10 goals) in 26 career games vs. Montreal are the most he has registered against a single franchise.

Stats

  • 17-15 Washington in shots
    • including 8-5 in the second
  • Montreal failed to score on their first power play
  • 19-19 in hits
  • 15-10 Washington in blocked shots
  • 9-5 Washington in giveaways


Third Period

Scoring

  • 7:10, 2-2: Wilson batted in the rebound at the side of the goal on the backhand after Protas threw a wrist shot in front.
  • 11:49, 3-2 Washington: Wilson ripped a wrister glove-side on Montembault after Protas caught Savard’s pass out of the defensive zone in mid-air, slid the puck to Dubois in front, and Dubois fed Wilson cross-ice. Protas, who ranks tied for third on the Capitals in assists with 15, has his third multi-assist game of the season. It marks Wilson’s third multi-goal game of the season and his second in his last five games. Wilson has reached the 10-goal mark in 27 games this season, the third fewest games he has needed to score 10 goals in his career (2018-19: 15; 2023-24: 26).
  • 13:49, 4-2 (PPG): Strome walked in from up top and ripped one to the top left corner from the top after Chychrun sent him a pass from the right half-wall. Strome, who leads the Capitals in points with 35 (nine goals), also leads the team in power-play points (2-10–12).


Stats

  • 35-24 Washington in shots
    • including 18-9 in the third
  • Washington finished one-for-three on the power play
    • Montreal was held off on two opportunities
  • 28-23 Montreal in hits
  • 17-16 Montreal in blocked shots
  • 12-11 Montreal in giveaways

Saturday’s victory marked Washington’s third multi-goal comeback win of the season and their third third-period comeback win.

Washington, who won their NHL-best 11th game in comeback fashion, leaped two points ahead of the New Jersey Devils for the Metropolitan Division lead with two games in hand and padded their lead to five up over the Carolina Hurricanes (with each team 27 games into the regular season) for second place.

Next game: Thursday at Columbus Blue Jackets (7 PM ET, Monumental Sports Network in-market, ESPN+ out-of-market)

By Harrison Brown

About Harrison Brown

Harrison is a diehard Caps fan and a hockey fanatic with a passion for sports writing. He attended his first game at age 8 and has been a season ticket holder since the 2010-2011 season. His fondest Caps memory was watching the Capitals hoist the Stanley Cup in Las Vegas. In his spare time, he enjoys travel, photography, and hanging out with his two dogs. Follow Harrison on Twitter @HarrisonB927077





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