One regular season game in December does not make up for a devastating Stanley Cup playoff upset. But it still feels pretty good.
The Capitals will have to wait until the spring to really get back at the Montreal Canadiens, who ousted them from the 2010 postseason after rallying from a 3-1 series deficit.
But the strategy that the Canadiens used to eliminate Washington last April was nowhere to be found on Tuesday night at Verizon Center. Fourth-liner Jay Beagle scored a highlight-reel goal in the first period and defenseman Mike Green added another with 38 seconds left in the first as the Caps never trailed during a 3-0 victory.
Washington (22-12-5, 49 points) has done a nice job putting this month’s eight-game losing streak behind it. The Caps are now 4-1-2 over their last seven games with 10 standings points earned out of a possible 14. They are also back in first place in the Southeast Division by themselves and the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference behind only the Pittsburgh Penguins heading into Saturday’s showdown in the Winter Classic.
| Caps notes |
| » Washington continues to struggle on the power play. The Caps finished 0-for-8 on the night and are just 4-for-53 since Dec. 4. |
| » But they’ve been pretty good on the other end of the ice. On the penalty kill the Caps were 5-for-5 against Montreal. |
| » Washington’s penalty kill has moved up to sixth in the NHL with 134 of 158 chances killed off (84.8 percent). They were 25th overall last season. |
“I think over that stretch when we were losing we really learned how to play a defensive game,” said Green, who recorded his seventh goal of the season. “We weren’t scoring goals, but now we’re starting to get our feel back for scoring.”
Beagle got things started by pulling the puck out of the corner, turning quickly and roofing a shot over Montreal goalie Carey Price (27 saves, 29 shots) for a spectacular goal at 16 minutes, 20 seconds of the first period. Just 38 seconds before the intermission, Nicklas Backstrom somehow found Green diving toward the net with a cross-ice pass. Green slammed his shot past Price to make it 2-0.
Washington goalie Semyon Varlamov, making his second consecutive start, stopped all 25 Canadiens’ shots on goal to earn his sixth win of the season and his fourth career shutout. The Caps have allowed just 12 goals over their last seven games.
“When you change things if they don’t work you’re in trouble,” said Washington coach Bruce Boudreau, echoing Green’s notion that their team is slowly but surely finding a way to tweak its offense-first identity. “It’s something we tried that so far has been successful against some pretty good teams. Obviously, the next team [Pittsburgh] is pretty good, too, so we’ll see how it works.”
