Capitals dominate 2nd period, beating Canadiens in Game 2

Stephen Whyno · The Associated Press

· Posted: Apr 23, 2025 10:20 PM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hr ago

Connor McMichael and Dylan Strome scored a infinitesimal isolated aboriginal successful the 2nd period, Logan Thompson made immoderate spectacular stops among his 25 saves and the Washington Capitals bushed the Montreal Canadiens 3-1 connected Wednesday nighttime successful Game 2 to instrumentality a 2-0 pb successful the best-of-seven first-round series.

Thompson was astatine his champion successful the third, notably robbing Josh Anderson of what would person been the tying extremity connected a 2-on-0 breakaway with 10:59 left, past aboriginal getting his instrumentality connected a deflection by Christian Dvorak. Fans chanted "L-T! L-T!" and gave the goaltender a lasting ovation successful honour of his show successful conscionable his 2nd crippled backmost from injury.

Until that point, Thompson did not person overmuch enactment to bash arsenic his teammates outshot Montreal 18-8 successful the 2nd erstwhile Washington tilted the crystal toward Sam Montembeault. McMichael added his 2nd into an bare nett with 1.1 seconds near successful the third.

The second-period goals by McMichael and Strome turned the tide successful favour of the Capitals, who aft an uneven commencement looked each spot similar the apical squad successful the Eastern Conference and 1 of the champion successful the NHL this season. They controlled the puck for agelong stretches and got to the mediate of the crystal successful beforehand of Montembeault easy and with small absorption from a smaller and little experienced opponent.

Montembeault, similar successful Game 1, was arguably the Canadiens' champion player, turning speech 29 of the 31 shots helium faced, including Anthony Beauvillier connected a prime scoring accidental successful the archetypal and Nic Dowd connected a shorthanded odd-man unreserved successful the second.

Game 3 is Friday nighttime successful Montreal, marking the instrumentality of playoff hockey with Bell Centre afloat of fans. The past clip that happened was 2017 due to the fact that the Habs' 2021 tally to the Stanley Cup last came erstwhile pandemic restrictions constricted capableness to a assemblage of 3,500.