The Washington Capitals will seek to win the second home ice game in their playoff series against the Montreal Canadiens. The Capitals, who defeated the Habs 3-2 in overtime on Monday, April 21, will be hoping that the Canadiens’ relative lack of playoff experience will continue to be a factor in the first-round series.
Projected Lineups for Montreal Canadiens vs. Washington Capitals
The Montreal Canadiens took away a lot of positive lessons despite their loss in Game 1. They looked hesitant and nervous in the opening minutes, but they had recovered enough to force the game into overtime.
“You go to the Major Leagues and the first time you see a 98-mile-an-hour fastball, you’re probably not going to touch it, but eventually you start following it,” Habs coach Martin St. Louis said via NHL.com. “And the goal for us is to hit singles and doubles. Eventually, I thought we did that in the third (period).”
Seven players on the Canadiens’ roster are in their first playoff series. The team last made it to the postseason in 2021.
In Monday’s game, Cole Caufield and Habs’ captain Nick Suzuki scored to nullify a 2-0 deficit against the Capitals. Alex Ovechkin and Anthony Beauvillier had scored for the Capitals. Ovechkin scored the game-winner in overtime; it was the Russian left wing’s first-ever playoff overtime goal in his 48th such game.
The Capitals also received some bad news ahead of Game 2, with defenseman Martin Fehérváry being ruled out for the rest of the playoffs due to complications arising from a knee injury he suffered on April 15.
“It’s a massive loss for our team,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery. “I really feel for him and my heart hurts for him, because he’s an unsung hero for our team. And if you know the Washington Capitals and if you’re around our team and if you watch our team, he is someone that goes unnoticed, who the rest of the hockey world doesn’t pay much attention to, but he’s a big part of our team.”
Capitals Projected Lineup
Forwards
Alex Ovechkin — Dylan Strome — Aliaksei Protas — Connor McMichael — Pierre-Luc Dubois — Tom Wilson — Andrew Mangiapane — Lars Eller — Ryan Leonard — Brandon Duhaime — Nic Dowd — Anthony Beauvillier
Defensemen
Rasmus Sandin — John Carlson — Jakob Chychrun — Trevor van Riemsdyk — Matt Roy — Alexander Alexeyev
Goaltenders
Logan Thompson — Charlie Lindgren
Scratched
Ethen Frank — Dylan McIlrath
Injured
Sonny Milano (upper body) — Martin Fehérváry (lower body)
Canadiens Projected Lineup
Forwards
Cole Caufield — Nick Suzuki — Juraj Slafkovský — Patrik Laine — Alex Newhook — Ivan Demidov — Josh Anderson — Christian Dvorak — Brendan Gallagher — Emil Heineman — Jake Evans — Joel Armia
Defensemen
Mike Matheson — Alexandre Carrier — Kaiden Guhle — Lane Hutson — Jayden Struble — David Savard
Goaltenders
Sam Montembeault — Jakub Dobeš
Scratched
Joshua Roy — Arber Xhekaj — Michael Pezzetta — Oliver Kapanen
Injured
None
