Clyde's Shots: Capitals-Canadiens, January 24, 2013

Even if you want to forget the game, you still want to see the photos. You know you do.

Capitals-Canadiens Postgame Quote Sheet

Via the Caps, post-game quotes following their 4-1 loss to Montreal:

Washington Capitals head coach Adam Oates on tonight's performance...

"Things haven't been going our way. The team's probably a little fragile, and we gave them a 5-on-3 goal, which right away took the wind out of our sails a little bit."

Washington Capitals head coach Adam Oates on the team's effort...

"I would say some of our mistakes are pure effort. It's very upsetting. I'm not pushing the panic button, but obviously it's upsetting. We're pros, you've got to be a pro, and you've got to do your job."

Washington Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom on moving forward...

"It's up to us. We're playing. Even if we have a new system, it's not such a big difference from the last system. It's just a matter of work and making the right decisions at the right time. And right now, we're not doing that."

Washington Capitals goaltender Michal Neuvirth on how the Capitals can improve...

"We've got to stay out of the box. It would be easier for everyone. And if we do take a penalty, we've got to kill it."

Washington Capitals forward Wojtek Wolski on losing three in a row...

"I think we just need to get one win under our belt and get rolling. Obviously we are frustrated and yeah we are concerned, but it's nothing like hitting the panic button where we think we can't come out of it. We've got skill and we just need to put a full game together."

Washington Capitals forward Wojtek Wolski on the play of the team...

"We've got a lot of skill on this team and sometimes that's something you can't control on a lot of teams. But something you can control is your work ethic and how hard you play. Obviously, we know what we've got to do."

Montreal Canadiens head coach Michel Therrien on goaltender Carey Price...

"He's been phenomenal since day one and he reported, first of all, in great shape. He gives us a huge chance every night to win the hockey game and he's playing terrific for us."

Montreal Canadiens head coach Michel Therrien on his team's special teams play being the difference...

"We took advantage of our power play, especially in the second period, and the power play gave us a chance to win this hockey game. We were pretty solid too 5-on-5 and at the time where we needed the [penalty] kills, guys sacrificed themselves to kill those penalties, so it was a good team effort."

Montreal Canadiens forward Brian Gionta on shaping the team's identity...

"That's what we want our identity to be [i.e. blocking shots], full team effort, making those sacrifices. [We] had a couple big [penalty] kills, [defenseman Alexei Emelin] had a couple big blocks [shots] on those kills too, so that's what we want our identity to be."

Montreal Canadiens forward Brian Gionta on giving the full effort and taking it to the Capitals...

"The good thing is we're playing on our toes and we're forcing them. When we gave [the Capitals] a little bit, we started to back off but we're trying to work towards our sixty minute effort. The last two games, we've done a fairly good job of that."

Montreal Canadiens defenseman Raphael Diaz on his and the team's confidence...

"I think the whole confidence from the team, if we keep playing like that, we will be successful. We know what happened last year, it's over, we learned a lot. This year, we stick to the system and we play from period to period."

Recap: Habs 4, Caps 1

The Caps fall to 0-3-0 after another home loss that wasn't all that close...

Third Period Open Thread

Bad penalties plus bad penalty kill equals bad results. That's just simple math.

Habs 4, Caps 0. Third period ahead...

Second Period Open Thread

Michal Neuvirth's first period of the season is a good one, as he stops nine Montreal shots (including five on the power-play) to keep the game scoreless after one.

Second period ahead...

Tonight's Lines: Wolski to the Top Line, Johansson to the Fourth

Per Stephen Whyno, here are tonight's lines (with Michal Neuvirth in net):

Wojtek Wolski - Nicklas Backstrom - Alex Ovechkin

Matt Hendricks - Mike Ribeiro - Troy Brouwer

Jason Chimera - Jay Beagle - Joel Ward

Marcus Johansson - Mathieu Perreault - Joey Crabb

Karl Alzner - John Carlson

Tom Poti - Mike Green

Roman Hamrlik - Tomas Kundratek

That leaves Jeff Schultz and John Erskine as healthy scratches, Jack Hillen and Brooks Laich out with injury.

Game Day Thread - Habs @ Caps

The Caps will try to avoid falling into an 0-3 hole to open the season as they host Montreal