QUEBEC CITY CELEBRATION
Habs too much for Capitals
CANADIENS 5, CAPITALS 2
Alex Ovechkin was here. QUEBEC So were Evgeny Kuznetsov and Tom Wilson, but most of the players wearing Washington Capitals uniforms Thursday night were not the same players who won the Stanley Cup last season. The Washington lineup was laden with players from the AHL Hershey Bears, which might help explain why the Canadiens posted a 5-2 pre-season win Thursday night at the Vidéotron Centre. Montreal dominated 5-on-5 play, while Washington enjoyed some success when Ovechkin and friends were on the power play.
Fast start: The Canadiens took a 2-0 lead before the game was six minutes old. Phil Danault forced a turnover at the blue-line and he set up Brendan Gallagher in a 2-on-1 situation. Gallagher beat minorleague goaltender Pheonix Copley at 3:06. Michael Chaput scored at 5:51 after he produced a turnover and then played a give-and-go with Joel Ward, the veteran winger who is in camp on a professional tryout. Jacob de la Rose, who is not known for his scoring prowess, made it 3-0 at 19:23 when he found the far post against Copley.
Slow start: It was difficult to evaluate Charlie Lindgren’s performance in the first period because he only faced three shots on goal. The Capitals didn’t get a shot on goal until 15:45, when Michal Kempny launched a shot from the left point.
Power plays take over: The Canadiens upped the count to 4-0 when Artturi Lehkonen converted a pass from Gallagher for a power-play goal at 2:28 of the second period. The Capitals countered with two power-play goals of their own. Ovechkin put Washington on the board when he powered a slapshot past Lindgren at 5:17. Rookie defenceman Connor Hobbs cut the Montreal lead to 4-2 when he scored at 13:06, after the Canadiens were called for too many men on the ice. Hobbs jumped into the play and was set up by Brett Connolly with Ovechkin picking up the second assist. The Canadiens converted on only one of their six power plays, while the Capitals went two for four.
The goalies: Lindgren played the entire game for the Canadiens and stopped 11 shots. Copley played the first two periods for the Capitals and stopped 20 of 24 shots. Vitek Vanecek, a 22-year-old Czech who has spent the past three seasons in Hershey, played the third period and he gave up the final Montreal goal by defenceman Rinat Valiev. Plenty of good seats available:
The Vidéotron Centre was filled to capacity when the Canadiens first played a preseason game here in 2015. But the attendance has dropped steadily since then. There were pockets of empty seats in the lower bowl and organizers didn’t bother trying to sell the end zones in the upper deck. Coming attractions: The Canadiens are back at the Bell Centre Saturday to play the Ottawa Senators (7 p.m., TSN5, RDS, TSN-690 Radio) and they travel to Toronto on Monday.