Montreal falls behind early, and despite rookie Cole Caufield's first goal of the season, lose 6-3 on a night the score flattered the Habs.
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The Canadiens’ hopes of a winning streak — even a modest two-game one — were dashed Wednesday night as they began a three-game road trip with a 6-3 loss to the Washington Capitals at the Capital One Arena.
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The Canadiens couldn’t have had a worse start, as the Capitals scored on their first two shots on goal and ran up a 3-0 lead before Jake Evans scored for Montreal late in the first period.
Montreal managed only one shot on a power play early in the period and the Capitals came back to take the lead when Nic Dowd beat Jake Allen with a strong second effort. Dowd went around Jeff Petry on a rush up the left wing and Allen did a good job to seal the post. But Dowd picked up his own rebound, went behind the net and scored on a wraparound.
The Capitals made it 2-0 on a power-play goal 9: 13. Joel Armia did an excellent job of shadowing Alexander Ovechkin, but Evgeny Kuznetsov had too much time on the right side and he set up John Carlson with a one-timer from the blue line.
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Washington got the bounce — bounces actually — when Michael Sgarbossa was credited with his first goal of the season. Cédric Paquette’s clearing attempt hit Sgarbossa’s body and caromed toward the goal. Allen might have made the save, but Alexander Romanov tried to play the puck in the crease and deflected it into the net.
Brendan Gallagher did the heavy lifting in the corner to Evans for his goal at 18:46. The 3-1 score flattered the Canadiens, who were outshot 16-5 and won only 24 per cent of the faceoffs in the first period.
The second period was slightly better for the visitors as they traded goals, with Cole Caufield scoring his first goal since last season’s playoffs at 18:54. Ilya Samsonov got his arm on Caufield’s shot off the rush, but the puck came out on the far side of the boards and Caufield had another chance. Samsonov got his pad on the shot, but a review showed the puck crossed the goal line.
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Earlier in the period, the Canadiens had only one shot on goal on their second power play and, less than a minute later, Kuznetsov was at the back door to tap in Carlson’s pass from the right point.
Ovechkin failed to score a goal, but picked up his third assist of the night when he set up Tom Wilson on a 2-on-1 break early in the third period. Defenceman Dmitry Orlov had the final Washington goal at 5:57. Montreal produced another late-period goal when Gallagher set up Artturi Lehkonen with 2:26 remaining in the game.
After using seven defencemen in Saturday’s win over Nashville, Dominique Ducharme went back to a more conventional six-defencemen, 12-forward configuration. Sami Niku returned to the lineup for the first time since Nov. 2 and was used on the third pairing. Brett Kulak didn’t make the trip because of a lower-body injury and Mattias Norlinder was a healthy scratch
There was also a change up front, as Paquette returned to the lineup after missing six games with an undisclosed injury. He replaced Michael Pezzetta on the fourth line with Ryan Poehling and Joel Armia.
The Canadiens’ road trip continues with back-to-back games in Buffalo Friday and Pittsburgh Saturday.
Canadiens no match for high-flying Capitals in Washington - Montreal Gazette
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