‘Lucky goals’ cost Canadiens, Budaj says
‘They’re a skilled team and they made the most of their chances’
WASHINGTON Canadiens goaltender Peter Budaj said he didn’t want to take anything away from the Washington Capitals, but he said a couple of “lucky goals” allowed the home team to escape with a 3-2 shootout win Friday night at the Verizon Center.
“I don’t want to take anything away from Washington, but we had 37 shots and they had 26,” said Budaj as he dismissed a suggestion the Canadiens laid back in the third period.
“They got some lucky goals,” he explained. “The first one was a missed communication. I made a bad play and it ended up in the net, and the second one was a shot that just trickled through me. So it’s a disappointing result.”
Former Canadiens forward Mikhail Grabovski was a key figure in the game as he picked up a goal and an assist in regulation and then scored the winning goal in the shootout. Grabovski set up Eric Fehr on the first Washington goal when he ambushed Budaj as he went behind his net to play a puck.
“They told me to play it up and I misplayed it,” said Budaj. “I hit Grabovski’s skate. I was a little slow and it was definitely my bad. It’s unfortunate because we were playing well and I was feeling good. It was just a bad play.”
But Budaj agreed with coach Michel Therrien that the Canadiens continued pushing before Fehr set up Grabovski for the tying goal late in the third period.
“I think we had some good chances,” said Budaj. “Even though we were up, we were still playing and trying to force turnovers. But they’re a skilled team and they made the most of their chances.”
Therrien said he was happy to see Lars Eller and David Desharnais score in the shootout.
That’s because Fehr and Alex Ovechkin matched the Montreal goals and Grabovski scored the winner on a quick shot.
When Budaj was asked how you stop a shot like that, he said: “If I knew, I probably would have stopped it. He made a nice play. I didn’t bite on the fake but he surprised me with a quick shot. I thought he was going to make a move. I was probably overthinking it in the shootout.”
Tomas Plekanec scored his eighth goal of the season and assisted on the opening goal by Daniel Brière.
But Plekanec thought the Canadiens might have eased up in the third period. “Even in the second period, we had some shifts where we got caught in our zone too much,” said Plekanec. “I don’t want to say it was just a matter of time before they scored, but they were down by one goal so they pressured us hard.”
Plekanec also contributed to the penalty-kill, which was a perfect 4-for-4 on the night. The Canadiens limited Washington’s power play to two shots and had two shots shorthanded
Braden Holtby made 35 saves for the win on a night when he was supposed to be taking it easy. He received an unexpected start when Michal Neuvirth stepped on a puck as he went out for the warm-up and suffered a lower-body injury.