Martin St-Louis found the right words to describe this 8-4 loss against the Washington Capitals on Saturday at the Bell Centre.
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Ryan Poehling had brought back a hint of hope early in the third period by scoring his second goal of the game to reduce the score to 4-3. But there was never a miraculous comeback.
“The Capitals’ fifth goal hurt,” St-Louis said. Our balloon has deflated. We stopped believing in it at that moment. »
The Capitals had more talent, more depth, more fighting spirit and an even greater desire to win. They simply chose to step on the accelerator late in the game to leave their rivals in the dark.
Back to earth
The honeymoon between a coach and his players is never eternal in hockey, as in all sports. St. Louis transformed this team in a short period of time, but it can’t change everything. He also lost key elements at the trade deadline with the departures of Ben Chiarot and Artturi Lehkonen.
But Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes have already said they’re building the future, not the present.
There are obvious facts that stand out. The CH does not have a great team. Still at the height of the race for the 32nd and last place on the circuit, the Habs (20-45-11) have now lost their last five games.
Sign of a vulnerable defense, it was already the third time that the Canadian gave up eight goals in the same game this season. The Wild and the Jets had also made this move before the Caps.
Four points for Mantha
Anthony Mantha (2 goals, 2 assists) and Dmitry Orlov (1 goal, 3 assists) led the Caps offense with four points each. Tom Wilson also played his bully role to perfection with five hits and several spats.
Alex Ovechkin didn’t land a major role with just one goal.
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Poehling
Ryan Poehling scored twice for the second time this season He played a good game at the center of Michael Pezzetta and Tyler Pitlick
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Romanov et Savard
It’s not just bad luck Alexander Romanov and David Savard were on the ice for six of the Capitals’ eight goals They each finished at -3
First period
1-WAS: Nic Dowd (10)(Orlov, Mantha)12:23
Penalties: Savard (Mon) 10:11, Larsson (Was) 13:04
Second period
3-WAS: Anthony Mantha (8) (Eller, Orlov) 8:03
4-WAS: Anthony Mantha (9) (Eller) 8:37
5-MON: Ryan Poehling (7)(Petry, Hoffman)8:51
6-WAS: Alex Ovechkin (47)(Kuznetsov)15:36
Penalties: Anderson (Mon) 7:47, Backstrom (Was) 7:47, Hoffman (Mon) 9:18, bench penalty (Mon) (served by Caufield) 10:04, Anderson (Mon) 17:42, Oshie (Was) 18:12
Third period
7-MON: Ryan Poehling (8)(T Pitlick, Romanov)2:22
8-WAS: Garnet Hathaway (13)(Dowd, Larsson)3:08
9-WAS: Dmitry Orlov (13)(Mantha)4:30
10-WAS: Justin Schultz (3)(Orlov, Johansson)AN-9:50
11-MON: Nick Suzuki (20)(Petry)14:53
12-WAS: TJ Oshie (10)(Kuznetsov, Carlson)AN-16:35
Penalties: Edmundson (Mon) 8:24, Pezzetta (Mon) 15:44, Edmundson (Mon) 19:05, Mantha (Was) 19:05
Shoot to the net
WASHINGTON 7 – 18 – 16 – 41
MONTRÉAL 15 – 9 – 8 – 32
Guardians:
WASHINGTON: Vitek Vanecek (G, 19-11-5)
MONTRÉAL: Samuel Montembeault (P, 7-17-6)
Numerical advantages:
WASH: 2 and 6
MON: 0 in 2
Referees:
Corey Syvret, Tom Chmielewski
Linesmen:
Caleb Apperson, Steve Barton
ASSISTANCE:
21 105
What we noticed…
The accomplice
Alex Ovechkin is not getting any younger at 36, but he remains a metronome. The Capitals captain scored his 47th goal of the season in the second period when he fired a perfect shot after an accurate throw from Evgeny Kuznetsov. On this game, Kuznetsov got his 50th assist of the season. He reached 50 assists in a season for the fourth time in his career. Kuznetsov ended this attacking festival with two assists.
Suzuki : 20 buts
Nick Suzuki hit 20 goals for the first time in his career. He beat Vitek Vanecek with a blistering wrist shot in the third period. In his first two seasons in the NHL, the Ontarian had scored 13 and 15 goals. But it was two shortened seasons. On the defensive side, Suzuki will seek to forget this passage of the Capitals with a record of -3 and failures in the face-off circle (42%).
Not good for average
Prior to this year, Samuel Montembeault had 25 NHL games with the Panthers. He has beaten his personal mark for a few weeks already. It was his 36th game. Capable of the best and the worst, the number 35 did not have his best start against the Caps by allowing eight goals. However, the visitors took advantage of several good chances to score in this encounter. For Montembeault, it was the eighth time this season that he gave five or more goals in the same match.