Home ice advantage has been anything but for the Montreal Canadiens so far this postseason, as the Capitals dominated the Habs at the Bell Centre for the 2nd straight game on Wednesday night, winning 6-3 and putting a stranglehold on the series. Alex Ovechkin had a pair of goals and Semyon Varlamov won his 3rd straight game for Washington, who is now looking much better than they did at the start of the series.
Montreal kept it close through two periods, but was unable to hold it together during the 3rd, as the Caps opened the throttle up big time in the last ten minutes of play. Ovechkin opened the scoring with a powerplay goal off the rush, beating Price with a heavy wrist shot to the far side. Mike Cammalleri was quick to answer for the Habs, though, banging in a rebound from the slot just over a minute later, and Brian Gionta actually gave Montreal the lead late in the 2nd with another powerplay goal. What seemed to be the backbreaker for Montreal was Mike Knuble’s shorthanded goal with just 7 seconds left in the period, as he redirected a feed from Boyd Gordon past Price on an odd-man rush.
Montreal came out flat in the 3rd, after outshooting Washington 21-9 in the 2nd, as the Caps answered with 20 shots of their own in the final period. Ovechkin put the Caps ahead midway through the period, dancing through a Montreal defenseman and blowing one past price, and grinder Jason Chimera scored again less than a minute later to give the Caps plenty of cushion and suck the life out of the Bell Centre. Mike Knuble gave Washington a 3 goal lead with his 2nd of the night as Jacques Martin elected to pull his goalie with over 2 minutes remaining in the game. Dominic Moore would score a meaningless goal for Montreal, but Nick Backstrom added an empty netter of his own with just 11 seconds to play.
Washington’s special teams play was much better in this game, as they held the Canadiens to just one powerplay goal and finally scored one of their own. Knuble’s shorthanded goal was huge not only because it was scored on the PK, but because it sent the Canadiens into the locker room with their heads down after blowing yet another lead in this series. Washington will now have a chance to close out the series on Friday night at home.