(Montreal) The Canadian continued his apprenticeship the hard way, Saturday night at the Bell Centre.
Posted at 10:11 p.m.
Anthony Mantha had two goals and two assists, Dmitry Orlov had a goal and three assists and the Washington Capitals beat Montreal 8-4.
The Capitals’ offense gave the Habs a hard time throughout the game. The Canadian was able to hang on for two periods thanks to good work on offense, but the visitors managed to do what was necessary to collect the two points.
Ryan Poehling scored twice, while Jake Evans and Nick Suzuki also scored for the Canadian (20-45-11), who suffered a fifth straight loss. Jeff Petry had two assists and Samuel Montembeault stopped 33 shots.
The evening was particularly trying for the duo of David Savard and Alexander Romanov, who finished the match at 3 under.
Nic Dowd had a goal and an assist, while Justin Schultz, Alex Ovechkin, TJ Oshie and Garnet Hathaway also got the ball rolling for the Capitals (42-23-10). Evgeny Kuznetsov and Lars Eller each had two assists and Vitek Vanecek made 28 saves.
Forward Tyler Pitlick was back on the Canadiens’ roster in place of Paul Byron, who had been granted a day off.
The Canadiens will play their next game on Tuesday, when the Minnesota Wild visit the Bell Centre.
The train derails
The match was much livelier than the day before, when the Canadian lost 3-0 to the New York Islanders.
The encounter was only five minutes old as both teams had already earned several scoring chances.
Vanecek closed the door on Joel Armia and Poehling on the breakaway. Shortly after his save at the expense of Poehling, when the Canadian was shorthanded, the Capitals opened the scoring. Dowd skillfully deflected a passing shot from Orlov past Montembeault at 12:23 of the first period.
The Canadian beat Vanecek with 5:19 to go in the first period, but Rem Pitlick quietly celebrated, knowing full well that he had pushed the puck with his skate and that his goal would be canceled.
It was only a postponement for the Habs, who tied the game after 1:56 in the second period. Evans beat Vanecek with a powerful slap shot.
House announcer Michel Lacroix was particularly busy midway through the second period. He had to announce four penalties and three goals in an interval of 2: 17.
Mantha hit the target twice in 34 seconds to give the Capitals a 3-1 lead. Meanwhile, Vanecek had pulled off a spectacular save against Cole Caufield.
Poehling made it 3-2 just 14 seconds after Mantha’s second goal.
The Canadian then survived 75 seconds of five-on-three play. Montembeault made several good saves to keep the Canadian in the game. He also played luck when Ovechkin hit the post.
Ovechkin redeemed himself with 4:24 to go in the second period. He gave the Capitals a 4-2 lead by beating Montembeault with a good one-timer from the mitt side.
Poehling returned after 2:22 of play in the third period, but Hathaway responded 1:46 later, dealing a hard blow to the Canadian.
Orlov then gave the Capitals a three-goal cushion at 4:30. Schultz turned the gun in the wound by scoring on the power play at 9:50.
Suzuki hit the mark with 5:07 to go, but the damage was done. It was for Suzuki a 20and goal this season.
Oshie added another power play goal with 3:25 left on the clock.