2023020069
[NHL.com Boxscore](https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/2023020069)
|Teams|1st|2nd|3rd|OT|Total|
|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|
|[WSH](/r/caps)|0|0|2|0|2|
|[MTL](/r/habs)|1|1|0|1|3|
##Team Stats
|Team|Shots|Hits|Blocks|FOW%|Giveaways|Takeaways|Power Play|PIM|
|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|
|[WSH](/r/caps)|32|14|19|41.5%|13|4|0/5|12|
|[MTL](/r/habs)|26|14|17|58.5%|12|5|1/6|10|
##Goals
|Period|Time|Team|Strength|Description|
|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|
|1st|18:55|[MTL](/r/habs)|Power Play|[Sean Monahan (2) tip-in shot, assist(s): Nick Suzuki (2), Cole Caufield (2)](https://players.brightcove.net/6415718365001/EXtG1xJ7H_default/index.html?videoId=6339630208112)|
|2nd|09:50|[MTL](/r/habs)|Even|[Brendan Gallagher (1) wrist shot, assist(s): Sean Monahan (2), Tanner Pearson (1)](https://players.brightcove.net/6415718365001/EXtG1xJ7H_default/index.html?videoId=6339633481112)|
|3rd|11:25|[WSH](/r/caps)|Even|[Dylan Strome (1) snap shot, assist(s): Alex Ovechkin (2), Matthew Phillips (2)](https://players.brightcove.net/6415718365001/EXtG1xJ7H_default/index.html?videoId=6339634451112)|
|3rd|17:59|[WSH](/r/caps)|Even|[Dylan Strome (2) snap shot, assist(s): Evgeny Kuznetsov (1), John Carlson (2)](https://players.brightcove.net/6415718365001/EXtG1xJ7H_default/index.html?videoId=6339637892112)|
|OT|00:38|[MTL](/r/habs)|Even|Cole Caufield (3) wrist shot, assist(s): Nick Suzuki (3)|
##Penalties
|Period|Time|Team|Type|Min|Description|
|:–:|:–:|:-:|:–:|:–:|:–:|
|1st|05:20|[MTL](/r/habs)|MIN|2|Alex Newhook holding against Tom Wilson|
|1st|13:01|[MTL](/r/habs)|MIN|2|Brendan Gallagher high-sticking against Anthony Mantha|
|1st|18:28|[WSH](/r/caps)|MIN|2|Alex Ovechkin slashing against Josh Anderson|
|2nd|04:51|[MTL](/r/habs)|MIN|2|Rafael Harvey-Pinard tripping against Matthew Phillips|
|2nd|19:01|[MTL](/r/habs)|MIN|2|Mike Matheson tripping against Martin Fehervary|
|3rd|03:02|[WSH](/r/caps)|MIN|2|Hardy Haman Aktell interference against Tanner Pearson|
|3rd|05:28|[WSH](/r/caps)|MIN|2|Sonny Milano interference-goalkeeper against Jake Allen|
|3rd|07:06|[WSH](/r/caps)|MIN|2|Evgeny Kuznetsov high-sticking against Tanner Pearson|
|3rd|08:02|[WSH](/r/caps)|MIN|2|Tom Wilson tripping against Mike Matheson|
|3rd|08:34|[MTL](/r/habs)|MIN|2|Josh Anderson slashing against John Carlson|
|3rd|13:04|[WSH](/r/caps)|MIN|2|Sonny Milano holding against Juraj Slafkovsky|
**Officials**
* Referees: Eric Furlatt, Beau Halkidis
* Linesmen: Jonathan Deschamps, Dan Kelly
If you notice an error with this bot [click here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=TeroTheTerror&subject=HockeyMod Issue&message=Subreddit:%0A%0AIssue:) to message TeroTheTerror.
by HockeyMod
24 Comments
####Colevechkin > Ovechkin
thank fucking Christ we won that one because we spent like half the third on the PP and got nothing out of it would’ve been a bad one to drop
GALLY IS BEATING THE WASHED ALLEGATIONS BY OUTSCORING OVI
We’re back in it!
I was hoping for OT just to see a caufield goal. Was not disappointed
id love to see slaf get some different looks on the pp, anything to get him away from the boards tbh
i just want to see him attack the middle of the ice, i don’t care if he makes mistakes but being on the boards any time he has the puck (ev or pp) isnt doing him any good
LET’S FUCKING GOOOOO
but good lord that powerplay is terrible lmao
Allen was great, Suzuki/Caufield with their best game of the season, I also thought Barron was pretty decent for his first game.
Ovi just too slow
I was never worried
COLE COLE COLE
Cole is a Point Per game player.
3g 2A in 4 games
Cole was very physical this game body checking, shooting and scoring.
Anderson off the top pp asap, put Newhook or Slaf there I beg. Great game by the first line, happy to see Suzuki play at a high level again
Love how they let them come back to give cole some ext4a time since he was so deserving of the gwg tonight.
GWG for Cole and 2 points for Josh Wawa, I call this night a win. (Until they announce something like Newhook on LTIR)
Win or lose, Garry Galley is the worst thing to have to experience in hockey. I swear to god
Good for Gally and Allen looked great.
In all fairness, the refs must have been doing bong hits between the 1st and 2nd period. The Caps really took some shat penalties, but hey, that’s the game.
Great game by Allen! Glad seeing suzuki warming up! Gally well deserved Monahan being lowkey best player and Cole doing cole things. Bonus points for denying Ovechkin. Gg
Joshua Roy with another 2pt game in the A… he may be the truth
*GOOD*
– Happy for the habs to send Washington home. It should have been done earlier but at the end of the day the win is a win. Don’t like that opposing team at all but that’s another tale for another day.
– Allen excellent. Number of amazing saves throughout the game. To be honest it should have been a shutout.
– Pezzetta to me is bringing the energy he needs to bring to stay in the lineup. Beyond just dropping the gloves he’s someone who needs to bring something to stay in the lineup and in my opinion he’s been very good these last two games.
– Monahan bringing it. Really really under rated player, maybe not so much around here, but habs are different when he plays.
– The most Gallagher goals of Gallagher goals. Nice to see.
– Little goal boy just killing it. Again, habs are going to lose a lot but if he keeps scoring it’ll be fun to watch.
– Suzuki was good. I think people tend to forget he’s a bit of a streaky player. But when he’s on he’s on.
– Barron quietly stellar?
*BAD*
– I think we are all in agreement on Burrows. I know the season just started but enough has to be enough at some point so I don’t need to harp on it but seriously eventually it falls on your head coach. The head coach, doing his job effectively, also needs to manage his staff effectively. I don’t see that (this will be continued with Anderson below)
– Regardless of how one feels on Anderson, which we all know where I stand on that lol (nice to see you guys catch up to me on that I’m joking here) anyways, he can’t be puck carrying on the powerplay. He routinely fumbled it there tonight, and the coach made no adjustments. Also, some it does fall on Anderson who objectively was brutal tonight.
– Stop the prevent defence when you are leading. The team caves into their own end and do not have the defensemen to lock down a game. It’s much better just keeping the foot on the gas trying to get a third.
– 6 on 5 strategy: just collapse, doesn’t work.
– rare Matheson off night
PP remains disappointing, but they played much more cohesively tonight. Felt more like a unit. Great performance from Allen tonight, as well- a well deserved first star.
A lot of people saying Slafkovsky has to be better, okay, well at some point maybe he will be given that opportunity. I think he’s playing just fine, but if you have a young player with this pedigree and you want him to shine, you can’t play him 13:50 with limited power play time.
I don’t believe for a second that our power player would not be better with him out there instead of Anderson. I mean, I love Anderson, but he’s North-south, and the power play is east-west.
At some point you gotta give your 1OA guy the ball and see what he can do with it.
Monahan continues to show that he is the best player on this team. Nice tip-in goal on the power play. But what was also impressive was how that goal developed with pretty much all the Habs players getting touches. Captials won the faceoff but did a bad job trying to clear it and Matheson was able to keep it in and eventually Anderson digs the puck off the boards and dishes it to Caufield who makes a nice cross-ice seam pass to Suzuki who makes a hard shot pass to Money Monahan who cashes in. Then in the second period Monahan with a nice assist on the second goal with a nice backhand pass to the front of the net while driving to the net. Monahan did have the rare misplay early on with the no-look drop pass to nobody that lead to a Capitals 2 on 1.
Gallagher scored his first goal of the season in a very apropros way, by driving to the net and then into the net too. But besides the great finish, what was also great was seeing how that play developed. While attacking the blueline 2 on 2, Pearson made a nice chip pass towards the outside as the puck ended up behind the Capitals defender and Monahan was able to accelerate to get to the puck and be a step ahead to drive to the net. Then Pearson also drives to the net which helps attract attention as Monahan puts the puck into a dangerous area for Gallagher to pounce on for the goal. Nice teamwork by a line that many hockey analysts and fans have been skeptical about.
Whatever coach Miracle Marty said during the timeout before the 5 on 3 had the opposite effect on the power play. It seems like fixing the PP is one miracle Marty cannot perform. Can Gorton go find a hockey psychologist who specializes in the power player jitters to do some group therapy sessions? Because the ineptitude seems like a collective mental block with the whole team.
Anderson was his usual powerhorse self, strong on the boards winning battles and getting pucks just like he did on the play that lead to the first power play goal. Didn’t get a point on it but he showed his usefulness.
Newhook continues to be dangerous with his speed and passing and is able to create plays with a combination of those skills. He seems to have better physical skills than Suzuki. I think Harvey-Pinard would be a better winger for him than Anderson. So far I haven’t really noticed Slafkovsky much and that continued in this game. I think for him and Newhook to be successful, Slaf is going to need to step up.
Don’t have much to say about the 4th line they did their job for the most part except for that second Caps goal. Although coincidentally that was when Harvey-Pinard got put back on it and was too late on his cover. This was probably the rare game where Harvey-Pinard didn’t look as good. I think the experiment with him on the first line is going to end soon.
Matheson had some rough moments, a Caps player blazes by him and almost scores five-hole on Allen. Then he loses the puck on the boards when getting checked that leads to Ovechkin passing to Strome for his goal. I think Matheson might’ve been taking shifts that were too long. As much as Petry struggled near the end as a Hab, he was the last true PP QB. I don’t think Matheson is as good as Petry on the PP.
Kovacevic did his best Hal Gill impression and laying down on that 2 on 1 to cut off the passing lane after the Monahan mistake (and somehow Ovechkin still got the pass across). I did find it odd that at one point Kovasevic was paired with Matheson and they were both on during that first Caps goal. I know Kova wears the same number as past Habs favorite Gorges but I hope they don’t make the same mistake and start miscasting Kova as a 1st pairing D like they did with Gorges.
I didn’t really pay much attention to the other Dmen although I wanted to see how Barron did but there were other players who were getting my attention.
Allen made some great saves like that 2 on 1 caused by Monahan. He also did a double pad stack save with style. Couldn’t be faulted on the two goals on him.
Suzuki looked much better this game despite some mishandling of pucks on later power plays. He’s become too predictable with that pass to Caufield on the PP. But during 3 on 3 OT with the extra space…
Caufield did something I’d never thought I’d see, a reverse hit. There was that one ill-advised pass to the slot near the latter part of the third period that got picked off and lead to a good counter rush by the Capitals and the commentator rightfully said Caufield shouldn’t be forcing a play like that especially at that point in the game. Then he did something that he’s known for which was being an overtime king again with a signature snipe. Actually I wasn’t expecting him to score there but it just shows when he has the space, he’s a deadeye sharpshooter. I know some dislike 3 on 3 OT but I think it’s great (although I still think OT should start 4 on 4 before going to 3 on 3).
Random note: I only just noticed the Habs have five players with numbers in the 50s and all three goalies with numbers in the 30s.
Random question: Has Gallagher been wearing a tinted visor all season? I only noticed it this game.
I jokingly predicted Caufield, Monahan and Gallagher injuries this morning.
You’re welcome for the reverse jinx, lads.