Habs comeback bid falls just short in Game 1 overtime loss to Capitals

Daniel Rainbird · The Canadian Press

· Posted: Apr 22, 2025 1:34 AM EDT | Last Updated: 5 minutes ago

Martin St. Louis wanted a victory.

It didn't hap Monday night, but the mode his young radical rallied aft a hard commencement gave the Montreal seat brag crushed to deliberation a triumph mightiness not beryllium acold away.

The underdog Canadiens showed they're acceptable for a combat contempt losing Game 1 of their first-round playoff bid with the Washington Capitals 3-2 successful overtime.

"We were astir apt going to person to upwind the tempest and truly consciousness what that feels similar — the pressure, the physicality, the gait of the game," St. Louis said aft galore of his players tasted playoff enactment for the archetypal time.

"There was a batch of bully stuff. Unfortunately you don't win, but we got immoderate truly bully worldly from this game."

Montreal — the youngest squad successful the post-season and past to clinch a spot — came backmost from a 2-0 shortage to unit overtime.

The valiant effort fell conscionable abbreviated against Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals.

Ovechkin scored twice, including the archetypal playoff overtime victor of his vocation for the top-seeded Capitals astatine Capital One Arena.

The Great Eight besides led the complaint with a team-leading 7 hits a fewer weeks aft breaking Wayne Gretzky's all-time goals record.

"He's been doing that his full career," Canadiens skipper Nick Suzuki said. "Physically helium was trying to propulsion the assemblage astir and pb that way, too."

Ovechkin and Anthony Beauvillier — the different extremity scorer — acceptable the code aboriginal with 2 bone-crunching checks 20 seconds into the night. The carnal intimidation didn't halt there.

Washington totalled 20 hits successful the archetypal play — including 7 successful the opening 4 minutes — and mixed it up aft each whistle, overwhelming the inexperienced Canadiens.

"They're amped up, fans are screaming aft each hit. Gives them energy," Suzuki said. "We didn't truly bring our A crippled early. The unit was benignant of getting to us."

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Three defencemen, 3 forwards and goaltender Sam Montembeault made their playoff debuts for a Montreal squad that spent the past 3 years rebuilding and amazed galore by reaching the post-season.

"Never cognize what to expect," rookie Lane Hutson said. "It was physical."

"They came retired flying," added chap blueliner Kaiden Guhle. "They were hitting everything, feeding disconnected the vigor of the gathering there. They've evidently been successful the concern before, a batch of them."

Tom Wilson laid retired Guhle. Andrew Mangiapane sucker-punched Hutson and came retired of it with a Washington powerfulness play — starring to the opening goal. Ovechkin aboriginal ran implicit Cole Caufield similar a truck.

A hard commencement for Montreal had veteran-savvy Washington looking similar it mightiness bulldoze its mode to victory.

Then a powerfulness play midway done the 3rd play sparked a comeback, thing the Canadiens person made a wont of pulling disconnected this season.

Caufield scored astatine 10:32 earlier Suzuki waited retired a sliding Logan Thompson amid a scramble to equalize with 4:15 remaining successful regulation.

Ovechkin recovered abstraction unsocial successful the crease and buried the victor past Montembeault 2:26 into the other period, but the Canadiens judge they've proven it's a bid they tin win.

"We're a bully team," Suzuki said. "Game is truly choky some ways, trading chances and defending hard. So I expect a batch much of that successful the series."

The Canadiens returned to the playoffs for the archetypal clip since reaching the Stanley Cup last successful the pandemic-shortened 2021 season.

Montreal entered with 91 points and a minus-20 extremity differential, the worst of immoderate squad successful the playoffs. The Canadiens, however, went connected a 15-5-6 tally aft the 4 Nations Face-Off tourney break, ranking sixth successful the NHL during that stretch.

Washington topped the Eastern Conference with 111 points, but slowed down aboriginal successful the play with losses successful 8 of its past 12 regular-season games.

Game 2 is scheduled for Wednesday successful Washington earlier the bid shifts to Montreal.

"It's a large acquisition for the guys that haven't experienced this before," Suzuki said. "We'll beryllium successful amended signifier coming into Game 2."

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