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Nick Suzuki of the Montreal Canadiens celebrates his goal with teammates Lane Hutson, Juraj Slafkovský and Ivan Demidov in the second period against the Washington Capitals of Game Three of the First Round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)

Canadiens Take Injury-Filled Game 3 From Capitals

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Christopher Babos | Last updated Apr 25, 2025 10:54 PM ET

The Montreal Canadiens secured their first win of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs on Friday night, defeating the Washington Capitals 6-3. Outside of the Canadiens slicing the Capitals’ series lead in half, the main story exiting Game 3 is the status of the starting goalies for each squad. Both Logan Thompson and Sam Montembeault exited the game due to injuries, and it will be a situation to monitor over the day off tomorrow in Montreal.

Game Recap

Washington’s Connor McMichael scored at 3:20 of the first period to provide a 1-0 lead for the Capitals. On the offensive rush, McMichael passed the puck across the blue line to Tom Wilson, who split Montreal’s defensive coverage with a cross-ice pass to Rasmus Sandin. The pad of Montembeault stopped his hard, low shot through the screen of Matt Roy, who collected the rebound before making the heads-up pass back across the defence to McMichael’s stick for the redirection goal.

With time running out in the first period, Montreal scored following a hard-working shift by the third line to tie the game. The Canadiens pressured the Capitals in the offensive zone. Alex Newhook intercepted a clearing pass before bumping the puck to Alexandre Carrier at the blue line. The 28-year-old blueliner manoeuvred into a scoring area before firing a puck through traffic that met twine behind Thompson for a 1-1 tie with 53 seconds remaining in the opening period.

According to the NHL’s Stats Live Updates page, Carrier is the first Quebec-born player to score for the Canadiens in the postseason since Phillip Danault in Game 3 of the 2021 Stanley Cup Final. While he didn’t score for the Canadiens (yet), Cole Caufield’s six shots in the first period were the most for a Canadiens player since 1979.

Nick Suzuki’s backhand goal at 8:37 of the second period put Montreal in front for the first time. Nic Dowd won the faceoff for Washington. Pressure from Juraj Slafkovsky caused John Carlson to spin away from the check in an attempt to clear, which caused a rolling puck that slid right to the tape of Suzuki for the high-danger scoring chance and a 2-1 Canadiens lead.

The Capitals responded quickly again with a goal less than two minutes after the Montreal celebration. Washington’s forecheck caused a turnover along the far boards, allowing Andrew Mangiapane to find open space before firing a cross-ice pass to Jakob Chychrun at the point. The 27-year-old blueliner fired a booming slapshot into the back of the net for a 2-2 game.

The Canadiens’ starting goaltender, Montembeault, exited the game during a media timeout due to a suspected injury and was replaced by Jakub Dobes with 4:25 remaining in the second period. Despite the surprising goalie change, the Canadiens secured the game’s momentum on Caufield’s goal with nine seconds remaining in the frame. A failed pass from behind the net from Rasmus Sandin generated a bang-bang play from Hutson to Caufield at the side of the net for the 3-2 lead.

THE CAPS AND HABS END THE PERIOD FIGHTING ON THE BENCHES

ABSOLUTE CHAOS IN MONTREAL pic.twitter.com/caw5Gqn6Cr
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) April 26, 2025

As the second intermission buzzer sounded throughout the Bell Centre, a scuffle broke out like a scene from SlapShot. Tom Wilson and Josh Anderson wound up on the Capitals bench with a linesman between them as the situation boiled out of control. Capitals coach Spencer Carbery was almost taken out in the exchange. Ultimately, order was restored with nearly 30 minutes of penalties handed out between the two sides as tensions cooled down over the second intermission.

Ovechkin tied the score, 3-3, at 2:39 of the third period after a cross-ice pass from Dylan Strome. Ovechkin’s 75th career playoff goal passes Joe Pavelski for 13th all-time in postseason history, and the Capitals’ all-time leading scorer sits one goal behind Mario Lemieux’s 76 playoff goals for 12th place.

The Canadiens responded 2:22 later on a heads-up play from Christian Dvorak. Montreal’s forward tossed the puck towards the net from a bad angle that deflected off the stick of Capitals’ winger Brandon Duhaime and through the five-hole of Thompson to restore the Montreal lead, 4-3.

Slafkovsky doubled Montreal’s lead, 5-3, following a smooth give-and-go passing sequence with Caufield. The Slovak winger slid off Thompson’s skate and into the net. While attempting to make the defensive play, Strome collided with his goaltender, which required his teammate to leave the game. Charlie Lindgren replaced Thompson with 6:37 remaining in the period.

BIENVENUE EN SÉRIES, JURAJ SLAFKOVSKY

LIVE SLAF LOVE#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/H8Fa7ftJsB
— x – Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) April 26, 2025

Newhook converted on a late power-play opportunity to finish the scoring for the Canadiens in a 6-3 victory in Game 3. Montreal controlled the game not only on the scoreboard but also on the stat sheet. The Canadiens outshot the Capitals 40-21 while outmuscling them with a 45-26 hit margin.

The Capitals lead 2-1 in the series with Game 4 on Sunday evening in Montreal.