The big high-definition scoreboard at Verizon Center succinctly summed up the Capitals’ season just minutes prior to Game 1 of a Stanley Cup playoffs first-round series with the Montreal Canadiens.
The accomplishments flashed across the screen to booming cheers from another sellout crowd at Verizon Center: Third straight Southeast Division title. Eastern Conference No. 1 seed. Presidents’ Trophy. But even with all of that success winning a Stanley Cup is all that matters now. The fans know it. The media knows it. And the players do, too.
But for the second year in a row, the Caps must dig themselves out of an early hole. Forward Tomas Plekanec scored for Montreal 13 minutes, 19 seconds into overtime to lift his team to a dramatic 3-2 victory and a surprising 1-0 series lead.
The Canadiens are trying to become the ninth No. 8 seed since 1994 to upset the No. 1 seed in the first round. They’ve already stolen home-ice advantage from Washington, which hosts Game 2 on Saturday night before heading to a raucous Bell Centre in Montreal for the following two games.
Defenseman Jaroslav Spacek set up the game-winning goal after a neutral-zone turnover. Defenseman Joe Corvo sent a pass across the ice in the neutral zone, but the puck was deflected while teammate Alex Ovechkin was departing for a line change. Spacek grabbed the puck, beat Caps forward Nicklas Backstrom and then caught Corvo and Shaone Morrisonn in transition. Those two had to back up and ceded too much space to Plekanec, who fired a shot past goalie Jose Theodore for the victory.
“It’s the playoffs. You try to do well every shift,” said Ovechkin, who was held without a shot or a point. I think we play great first period. We had a lot of great chances, but didn’t score. We score goal and we feel good and then we stopped playing. It’s okay. It’s one game. We’ll have 24 hours to think about what we did wrong.”
Washington also fell behind the New York Rangers last spring 2-0 and then 3-1 before rallying to win the series. But it won’t recover this time if Ovechkin doesn’t muster a better effort. He had five shots blocked and was not a factor despite the Caps pumping 47 shots at Montreal goalie Jaroslav Halak (45 saves). Forward Alex Semin took six shots, but missed the net five times and took a hooking penalty early in the first period.
“I think our best players weren’t our best players tonight,” said Caps coach Bruce Boudreau. “And their best players were.”
Montreal struck first when forward Mike Cammalleri scored for the first time in 13 games – something Boudreau fretted about during his pregame media session. Cammalleri scored at 12:36 on a beautiful cross-ice pass from defenseman Andrei Markov.
The Caps – ranked first among all NHL teams to the Canadiens’ second on the power play this season – were 0-for-2 in the first period with the man advantage and 0-for-4 overall. But 40 seconds after Washington’s second power play ended, defenseman Joe Corvo – from the blueline while skating back a step – floated a shot towards Halak that deflected in. That tied the game at 1 in a period where the Caps outshot Montreal 19-7 and controlled the puck for long stretches.
“I was a little worried after the first and it’s a 1-1 tie and I think we outplayed them pretty badly in the first,” Boudreau said. “And usually when you don’t get your 3-1 lead or 3-0 lead when you’re playing like that they’re going to go in the dressing room and they’re going to get hell or their coach is going to say ‘Now it’s our turn.’ And something is going to happen and it’s going to turn the other way. And it did.”
Montreal outshot Washington 13-8 in the second period – thanks in part to multiple good shifts from center Scott Gomez and the second line – and had the possession advantage, too. Jose Theodore needed to make three fine saves during a 20-second stretch – two of them on Plekanec – with 9:02 left in the second, drawing a “Theo” chant from the sellout crowd. He finished with 35 saves and drew credit from both Boudreau and several teammates for keeping the Caps in the game. Montreal had 10 shots in overtime to Washington’s six.
Caps forward Nicklas Backstrom, who spent much of this week battling the flu, scored just 47 seconds into the third period. That goal came off a nifty pass from teammate Mike Knuble following a Montreal turnover. Gomez tied the game at 7:34, making a wonderful deke in the neutral zone to beat two Caps players and then finishing a cross-ice pass from teammate Brian Gionta to tie the game at 2. That set up Plekanec’s overtime heroics.
“We’re happy with the win. If you look at the game, especially in the first, [the Caps] created a lot of chances,” Cammalleri said. “They were definitely the powerhouse we expected and showed us what they could do in that first period. But I thought [Halak] played really well. We were able to capitalize on a few and got a big victory for ourselves.”
