In Washington, DC, Alex Ovechkin added three assists to his record this season, in a 6-3 drubbing of the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night.
Ovechkin has 33 points in 21 games so far.
“He’s rolling,” Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette said. “He’s still shooting too. It’s not like he couldn’t have scored tonight. He’s still unleashing. But I always think there’s that area where you’ve got to make the right decision. It can’t just be about one thing or the other thing, so he’s done a really good job of that.”
The Canadiens were never really in this contest, the Caps held a 3-1 lead after the first period, and the Habs never threatened.
Ilya Samsonov made 25 saves in the Caps win.
Washington improved to 12-4-5.
Cole Caulfield, Jake Evans and Artturi Lehkonen were the Montreal strikers.
“It’s clear we’re not the same team the second game,” Evans said. “We let off the gas a little bit. Now we’re playing some good teams and they make you pay pretty quickly.”
The Canadiens dropped to 5-14-2.
Nic Dowd and John Carlson scored for the Caps for a 2-0 lead.
“Those two quick goals obviously put us on our heels,” Canadiens head coach Dominique Ducharme said. “We cannot wait to come back to the room and I talk to them and they talk to themselves and then we come back and we’re better. We’ve got to do it within the game.”
If they weren’t enough, Cedric Paquette made it 3-0 for the Capitals.
Evans scored to make it 3-1 for the Caps, and Evgeny Kuznetsov and Tom Wilson sandwiched Caulfield’s goal for a 5-2 lead.
“Every time a different team scored a goal, they kind of have momentum, and it was important for us to get it back right away,” Ovechkin said.
Dmitry Orlov also scored for Washington.
Jake Allen made 28 saves in the Montreal loss.
“I think we’re working hard,” Evans said. “I just think sometimes we lose coverage, we lose a quick battle and it bites us … We’re all feeling pretty bad about our games and we’re all feeling bad about how this season has started off for us. It’s time to turn the corner.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.