The Washington Capitals kicked off their 2025 postseason in quite the dramatic fashion last night. The first 50 minutes were all Capitals—all four lines were rolling and Logan Thompson looked excellent in his return to the lineup. Alex Ovechkin got the scoring started for the series, and Anthony Beauvillier put the Caps up 2-0 after two. Unfortunately, Washington completely unraveled after Cole Caufield got the Montreal Canadiens on the board with just under 10 minutes to go. Then Nick Suzuki tied things up six minutes later after a series of failed clearing attempts from the Caps. What better way to welcome Caps fans to the postseason than by Game 1 overtime, right? But fret not, because Alex Ovechkin decided last night was the perfect time to score the first playoff overtime game-winning goal of his 20-year career.
Ovechkin set the tone for Washington as soon as the puck dropped and he got the game’s first goal, so it seems fitting that he was the one to end it in overtime. After a sloppy second half of the third period, the Capitals came out of the locker room for overtime ready to play. They looked like the Capitals that started the game, and it took less than three minutes for the top line of Alex Ovechkin-Dylan Strome-Anthony Beauvillier to finish what they started.
The OTGWG came right after a Dylan Strome faceoff win to the right of Sam Montembeault. Beauvillier got the puck first and fired a quick shot on the Montreal net. Montembeault reacted quickly and made the initial save, but the puck bounced off the boards and right back to Beauvillier. He passed it behind himself to Ovechkin at the top of the crease, and Ovi tapped the puck over the line out of midair. It was a glorious way to end the game, and the celly reflected that incredible energy:
It was also fitting that the top line was able to cap off their game in such a spectacular way. Their final stat lines speak for themselves: Ovechkin with 2G/1A/4 SOG/7 hits, Beauvillier with 1G/1A/5 SOG/4 hits, and Strome with 3A/60% FO. There were certainly some raised eyebrows when the lines were released ahead of puck drop tonight and Coach Carbery had Beauvillier on that top line, but Carbery is the heavy favorite for this year’s Jack Adams Award for a reason. Whatever he said to his team in the locker room between the third period and overtime was clearly effective, and it resulted in a 1-0 Washington series lead.