Nicklas Backstrom scored the only shootout goal on Washington’s third attempt to give the Capitals a 4-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.
Semyon Varlamov stopped Montreal shooters Mike Cammalleri, Maxim Lapierre and Tomas Plekanec.
Backstrom secured the win when he put a shot past Carey Price, who had stopped Tomas Fleischmann and Alexander Ovechkin.
Eric Fehr scored his second goal of the game to draw Washington even at 3 with 11.4 seconds remaining in regulation.
Fehr, who opened the scoring 8:47 in, got his second of the game — his sixth of the season — when he backhanded a rebound past Price after Montreal defenseman Paul Mara was called for high-sticking at 19:44 to send the game to overtime.
Ovechkin got his 18th goal midway through the first 1:12 after Eric Fehr got his fifth as Washington scored on two of its first three shots to take a 2-0 lead.
Varlamov stopped 21 shots. The Russian rookie recorded his first regular-season shutout in his last outing Wednesday when he turned aside 25 shots in a 2-0 win over Buffalo.
Price made 20 saves for the Canadiens, 3-1-2 in their last six.
Travis Moen gave Montreal a 3-2 lead with a power-play goal 5:34 into the third.
Moen got credit for his sixth of the season when he redirected Marc-Andre Bergeron’s wrist shot from the deep slot past Varlamov to give Montreal its third straight goal after falling behind 2-0 midway through the first.
Jaroslav Spacek and Plekanec scored in the second for the Canadiens.
Fehr deflected Karl Alzner’s point shot past Price for his fifth goal 8:47 in after the Capitals failed to record a shot during their first power-play opportunity early in the opening period.
Ovechkin made it a 2-0 lead when he drove a slap shot past Price into the left side of the net at 9:59.
Spacek, who returned after missing two games because of injury, scored his second goal on a power-play goal 5:40 into the second to draw Montreal within 2-1.
Plekanec tied it at 2 with his sixth goal at 13:50.
NOTES » Vladislav Tretiak was among the sold-out crowd of 21,273 on hand. The Hall of Fame Russian goalie was given a warm ovation when he was shown on the video scoreboard. … Steve Yzerman … Injured Capitals included Ds Tom Poti and Shaone Morrisonn, and Fs Alexander Semin, Quintin Laing, Boyd Gordon and Mike Knuble. … Canadiens sidelined by injury included Ds Andrei Markov and Hal Gill, and Fs Scott Gomez, Brian Gionta, Andrei Kostitsyn and Benoit Pouliot.
