In Montreal, the visiting Washington Capitals hit for two goals in the third period en route to a 4-3 win over the Canadiens on Saturday night. 
Darcy Kuemper made 28 saves in the win,
The Capitals moved to 24-21-8.
Aliaksei Protas snapped a 3-3 tie with 12 minutes gone in the third period to send the Caps to the win.
“I loved the resiliency,” Washington coach Spencer Carbery said. “This game for us, as we try to stay in this fight, we had to have two points. There’s no sort of skirting around it. We needed two points tonight, so for us to deliver — we give that lead back and then we get that game winner — I liked a lot of the things we did tonight.”
The Caps took a 1-0 lead in the game on a strike by Anthony Mantha at 3:40 of the opening stanza.
“Where you really get the meat of your goals is around the net,” Carbery said. “And so, Anthony Mantha, prime example. Protas, prime example. So, for us to get rewarded and going there, and we’re doing a better job of that of late, that’s important.”
The Habs replied with a with a marker from Arber Xhekaj at 5:04 to tie the game, 1-1.
“That’s probably the hardest shot I’ve ever taken, to be honest,” Xhekaj said. “I don’t think I’ve taken a harder shot than that so far. I was skating down on it and [Roy] teed me up pretty good.”
In a busy first period, T.J. Oshie hit off the power play midway through the period to give the Caps a 2-1 advantage.
The marker was the 300th NHL goal for Oshie.
“This one means a lot,” Oshie said. “Coming into the year, the last couple of years I’ve had a lot of time out of the lineup from injuries. I don’t really have many milestones or goals that I really set for myself, but this is one coming into the year that I wanted to reach, so it feels good.”
The Canadiens dropped to 22-25-8.
In the middle frame, Alex Newhook got the Canadiens even, 2-2, off a rebound.
Sonny Milano, in his first game back on the bench after missing 27 games, replied with a strike at 3:27 of the third period to restore the Caps lead at 3-2..
“I don’t think we were as sharp as we needed to be,” Newhook said. “I think they’re a pretty opportunistic team. You give them a few looks, you give them some space around the net, they’ll score. So, I think our effort was there, but maybe our execution was not where it needed to be to get a win.”
Nick Suzuki then tied the game, 3-3, with a power play marker midway through the third period.
Jake Allen made 30 saves.
“We were right there. We had a chance at the end to get another one and push it to overtime,” Allen said. “It was a battle, but it was just a few costly mistakes, and they had some guys who put it in the net.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.