The Caps had been riding a three-game winning streak – bookended around the Olympic break, of course – when they arrived in Montreal. Looking to build off a win over Vegas on Friday, they faced a rested Habs team who immediately showed off their fresher legs with a goal from Cole Caufield almost immediately following the opening faceoff.
They seemed to shake off that early goal and settle down a bit, though, and an Alex Ovechkin goal with about seven minutes left in the first brought them even again. Whole new ball game – Caps were totally still in it.
Ah, but a little over a minute later, there was Caufield again to crush their dreams. #13 snuck up to the net and hid to Charlie Lindgren’s left, waiting for a rebound that he then pounced on to put his team back in front again.
No one sees him until it’s too late. (Look, we know he’s teeny, but yeesh…)
After that, despite being down by just one, it seemed like the Caps never really got it together to make an actual attempt at a comeback. Two empty-netters inflated the final score to look more lopsided and dominant than it was for Montreal, of course – because the Caps weren’t that bad, and the two goals from Alex Ovechkin did keep them in the game even late. Things were just slightly off all night, and they were never truly able to recover enough to put a real comeback together.
Thankfully, now they get a couple of days to regroup before hitting the ice again, this time to face the Utah Mammoth for the first time this season.