Full Gameday Preview and Coverage – 11/1/2018 – Washington Capitals v. Montreal Canadiens

 

Washington Capitals (5-3-2 12pts) v. Montreal Canadiens (6-3-2 14pts)

Time: 730p EST

Station: NBC Sports Washington

 

Preview:

In a battle of two 4th place teams in their respective divisions, the Washington Capitals and Montreal Canadiens are going to be looking to improve their standing within their divisions. The Capitals are coming off two lackluster games against the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames, while the Canadiens will be looking for their 6th win in nine games.

 

Washington Capitals:

Projected Lineup:

Alex Ovechkin — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Jakub Vrana

Andre Burakovsky — Nicklas Backstrom — T.J. Oshie

Chandler Stephenson — Lars Eller — Brett Connolly

Dmitrij Jaskin — Nic Dowd — Devante Smith-Pelly

Dmitry Orlov — Matt Niskanen

Michal Kempny — John Carlson

Christian Djoos — Madison Bowey

Braden Holtby

Pheonix Copley

Scratched: Nathan Walker, Aaron Ness

Injured: Brooks Orpik (lower body), Travis Boyd (leg)

Suspended: Tom Wilson

 

Keys to the Game (Michael):

1. Play a full 60 minutes

The Capitals need to come into this game and play a full 60 minutes. They barely showed up in Edmonton, and they coasted through their game in Calgary, and it wasn’t acceptable. The Capitals need to play a full 60 minutes if they hope to win tonight in Montreal.

 

2. Keep your feet moving

The Capitals are going to need to keep their feet moving against the Canadiens. The Canadiens are much quicker team and the Capitals will need to utilize their speed to help neutralize Montreal’s.

 

Montreal Canadiens:

Projected Lineup:

Tomas Tatar — Phillip Danault — Brendan Gallagher

Jonathan Drouin — Max Domi — Charles Hudon

Artturi Lehkonen — Jesperi Kotkaniemi — Joel Armia

Nicolas Deslauriers — Matthew Peca — Andrew Shaw

Jordie Benn — Jeff Petry

Mike Reilly — Noah Juulsen

Xavier Ouellet — Victor Mete

Carey Price

Antti Niemi

Scratched: Karl Alzner

Injured: Paul Byron (lower body), Shea Weber (knee), David Schlemko (knee), Tomas Plekanec (back)

 

Keys to the Game (Armand):

1. Don’t give the Caps chances with the man advantage.
2. Carey Price needs to play a solid game as both Braden Holtby and Price are two of the best netminders in the league.
3. Fast start Montreal needs to get on the board early to gain momentum.
4. Lastly No Stupid Turnovers Montreal has made too many boneheaded moves this season.

 

First Period:

Canadiens Goal – 2:28 – Jesperi Kotkaniemi (1) from Joel Armia (3)

Capitals Goal – 6:16 – Lars Eller (2) from Matt Niskanen (4) and Chandler Stephenson (2)

Canadiens Penalty – 8:23 – Brendan Gallagher 2 minutes for Roughing

Capitals Penalty – 8:23 – Evgeny Kuznetsov 2 minutes for Roughing

 

End of 1st – WAS – 1       MON – 1

Shots              13                18

Faceoffs         06                06

Hits               12                  10

PP                 0/0                 0/0

 

Analysis:

Capitals (Michael) – This was an ok period for the Capitals. Definitely did not start this game well as they  looked overwhelmed by Montreal’s speed, and at one point was being out shot 10-3. However, with Braden Holtby’s stellar play and a solid shift by the 3rd line which resulted in a goal, and some really solid 4 on 4 play, the Capitals were able to get themselves back into this game.

 

Canadiens (Armand) – Habs played a great period. Great on the forecheck. Getting tons of shots on Holtby.

 

Need to Do:

Capitals (Michael) – The Capitals need to start the next two periods much better than they started the first period. Also the Capitals need to continue to keep forcing the play in the Canadiens zone and clean up their own play in the front of Holtby and not let the Canadiens cut through the middle.

 

Canadiens (Armand) – From what I can see the Habs just need to keep doing what they did in the first.

 

Second Period:

Canadiens Goal – :32 – Brendan Gallagher (8) from Tomas Tatar (7)

Canadiens Goal – 3:06 – Brendan Gallagher (9) from Tomas Tatar (8) and Phillip Danault (5)

Capitals Goal – 6:49 – Alex Ovechkin (9) from Evgeny Kuznetsov (11) and Jakub Vrana (3)

Capitals Goal – 7:59 – Lars Eller (3) from Brett Connolly (7)

Capitals Goal – 12:53 – Alex Ovechkin (10) from Dmitry Orlov (2) and Matt Niskanen (5)

Capitals Penalty – 16:16 – Evgeny Kuznetsov 2 minutes for Holding

Capitals Penalty – 19:57 – Lars Eller 2 minutes for Interfernce

 

End of 2nd – WAS – 4        MON – 3

Shots               26                 27

Faceoffs          18                 13

Hits                 16                  21

PP                   0/0                  0/1 *2nd in progress

 

Analysis:

Capitals (Michael) – This period did not start well for the Capitals, but they finished it strong. The Capitals scored 3 unanswered goals after Brendan Gallagher scored back to back goals in the first 3 minutes of the period, and forced the play in the Canadiens zone.

 

Canadiens (Armand) – Turnovers have killed the Habs Especially on the short handed opportunity Washington had.

 

Need to Do:

Capitals (Michael) – The Capitals need to play a strong 20 minutes to close out the Canadiens. They need to kill off this late penalty by Lars Eller and use that momentum to take it to the Canadiens.

 

Canadiens (Armand) – Habs need to come out strong after a poor period. Powerplay to start the period needs to be strong.

 

Third Period:

Canadiens Penalty – 13:01 – Charles Hudon 2 minutes for Tripping

Canadiens Goal –  – Jesperi Kotkaniemi (2) from Artturi Lehkonen (7) and Victor Mete (1)

Canadiens Goal – 19:38 – Max Domi (6) from Mike Rielly (3)

Canadiens ENG – 19:40 – Joel Armia (3) from Phillip Danault (6)

 

End of 3rd – WAS – 4         MON – 6

Shots              31                   44

Faceoffs        35                    25

Hits               25                     32

PP                 0/1                    0/2

 

Analysis:

Capitals (Michael) – What should have been a win for the Capitals became nothing more but a blown opportunity for them. All they needed to do was play a full 20 minutes and truly pressure the Canadiens in their own zone and and keep the play there, but instead this was a period dominated by the Canadiens and they were able to take this game from the Capitals in the final 3 minutes of this game including 2 goals in two seconds to seal the deal for the Canadiens. One of the biggest bright spots was the play of Braden Holtby, and his stellar play in net kept this game a lot closer than it would have seemed to be. The Capitals were out shot 17-5 in the third period alone.

 

Canadiens (Armand) – Habs blow a 3-1 lead but like the time they played Washington in the playoffs the Habs storm back to get the win. Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Brendan Gallagher each pick up two goals as Max Domi had a goal that would be the decider. Carey Price looked a little shaky at times but made some key saves late in the game to keep the Habs in the game.

 

Next Up:

Washington (5-4-2 12pts) v. Dallas (7-5-0 14pts)

Montreal (7-3-2 16pts) v, Tampa Bay (8-3-1 19pts)

 

You can watch TXHT Live next Tuesday at 8p EST on both Twitch and Facebook Live.