For the Capitals it was a perfect road game in Montreal. They scored an early goal and played stifling defense to take the crowd out of the game. The Capitals held Montreal to just 3 shots on goal in the first period. Marco Sturm scored his first goal as a member of the Capitals when he put back a rebound from a Nicklas Backstrom shot at the 1:24 mark. The rest of the period saw Washington with 3 power play chances with no resulting goals. In the second period the Caps went on their fourth consecutive power play early but again they failed to score with the extra man advantage. The went back and forth until Washington was called for its first of three penalties. As they have done so well this season, the penalty killers did the job bringing a chorus of boos for the hometown Canadiens. With about four minutes remaining in the contest the Capitals got a break with the Canadiens pressing in the offensive that allowed Backstrom and Alexander Semin in alone on Montreal goalie Carey Price. Backstrom made a perfect pass to Semin who added the insurance goal for a Caps 2-0 lead. It got a little interesting at the end when Marcus Johansson flipped a puck out of the rink in his own end for a delaying game penalty with three minutes remaining in the game. With the Montreal goal empty the penalty killers once again came through and rookie Braden Holtby recorded his second career shutout. The Caps played their system to a tee with and finished their 6-game road trip on a winning note and a 4-2-0 record. The Caps head home to face Carolina on Tuesday.
Of Note:
With the win Braden Holtby got his 10th win of the season. He stopped all 18 shots he faced. After a bit of an up and down beginning he now has a 10-2-2 record with 1.79 GAA and a 0.932 save percentage. Oh and he's just 21 years old.
The line of Strum-Backstrom-Semin combined for all 6 Capitals points in the game. Sturm and Semin with 1 goal and 1 assist each and 2 assists for Nicklas Backstrom.
After getting destroyed in the face-off circle in Ottawa the previous night, the Caps fared much better in Montreal winning 35 of the 65 draws. Brooks Laich led the way winning 11 of the 17 draws he took.
The Caps only allowed 18 shots on goal in the game and they blocked another 15 Montreal attempts.
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