NHL

Montreal Canadiens at Washington Capitals

· National Hockey League
Final
2 - 3

Capitals rally with 2 in the third, then beat Montreal 3-2 on McMichael's goal in OT

Connor McMichael nets Caps' OT winner

Washington trailed 2-0 entering the third period before tying it on a pair of goals by Ethen Frank. After the Capitals failed to score on an overtime power play, Canadiens goalie Samuel Montembeault left a rebound on Dylan Strome's shot and McMichael was able to stuff it home.

Josh Anderson and Brendan Gallagher scored for Montreal.

Washington won for just the sixth time in 17 games. The Capitals allowed a shorthanded goal in the first, and their power play was so bad in the second fans began booing. But it was Montreal that failed to score on a two-man advantage late in the second, and that left the score at 2-0 heading into the third.

Matt Roy’s shot from the right circle was deflected in by Frank with 14:54 to play. Then Frank scored on a redirect with 1:54 remaining after the Capitals had pulled their goalie.

Canadiens defenseman Jayden Struble was shaken up after a big hit by Washington's Dylan McIlrath in the second. Washington was without injured forward Tom Wilson for a fifth straight game.

With the Capitals on an early power play, Anderson skated out of his own zone with the puck on a 2-on-1 break and beat goalie Logan Thompson with a wrist shot for a shorthanded goal.

Gallagher was left with plenty of room near the slot and made it 2-0 in the second.

Up next Canadiens: At Buffalo on Thursday night.

Capitals: Host San Jose on Thursday night.

Regular Season Series

WSH leads series 2-0

Scoring Summary

Goal 1st Period 8:14 Josh Anderson Goal (10) Snap Shot, assists: none
Goal 2nd Period 7:40 Brendan Gallagher Goal (4) Wrist Shot, assists: Phillip Danault (9), Zachary Bolduc (8)
Goal 3rd Period 5:06 Ethen Frank Goal (9) Deflected, assists: Matt Roy (13), Rasmus Sandin (12)
Goal 3rd Period 18:06 Ethen Frank Goal (10) Tip-In, assists: Rasmus Sandin (13), Anthony Beauvillier (7)
Goal 4th Period 4:21 Connor McMichael Goal (7) Wrist Shot, assists: Dylan Strome (25), Rasmus Sandin (14)

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/mtl.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originMTL https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/wsh.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originWSH
20 Blocked Shots 15
21 Hits 18
2 Takeaways 5
26 Shots 42
0 Power Play Goals 0
4 Power Play Opportunities 5
0.0 Power Play Percentage 0.0
1 Short Handed Goals 0
0 Shootout Goals 0
32 Faceoffs Won 27
54.2 Faceoff Win Percent 45.8
10 Giveaways 16
7 Total Penalties 6
25 Penalty Minutes 23
Washington Capitals Washington Capitals Injuries
NAME, POS STATUS DATE
Jakob Chychrun, D Out Jan 13
Eriks Mateiko, LW Out Jan 13
Justin Sourdif, RW Out Jan 13
Tom Wilson, RW Injured Reserve Jan 13
Pierre-Luc Dubois, LW Injured Reserve Jan 3
Montreal Canadiens Montreal Canadiens Injuries
NAME, POS STATUS DATE
Patrik Laine, RW Injured Reserve Jan 10
Jake Evans, C Injured Reserve Dec 27

Game Information

Capital One Arena

Location: Washington, DC
Attendance: 18,347 | Capacity:

2025-26 Atlantic Division Standings

TEAM W L PTS OTL
Tampa Bay 29 13 61 3
Detroit 28 16 60 4
Montreal 26 14 59 7
Boston 26 19 54 2
Toronto 23 16 53 7
Buffalo 24 16 52 4
Florida 24 18 51 3
Ottawa 21 19 47 5

2025-26 Metropolitan Division Standings

TEAM W L PTS OTL
Carolina 28 15 60 4
NY Islanders 25 16 55 5
Washington 24 17 54 6
Philadelphia 22 14 52 8
Pittsburgh 21 14 52 10
New Jersey 23 21 48 2
Columbus 20 19 47 7
NY Rangers 20 21 46 6
Full Standings