Ovi, Caps finish Habs in first series win since Cup
WASHINGTON — For the first time in seven years, the Washington Capitals were on the smiling end of a playoff handshake line. And they got to enjoy it at home for the first time in a decade.
Alex Ovechkin scored on a laser of a shot off a faceoff, Logan Thompson made some spectacular saves among his 28 and the Capitals beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-1 in Game 5 of their first-round series Wednesday night to advance in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
It’s the Capitals’ first series win since capturing the Cup in 2018, and they clinched at home for the first time since 2015. They face the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round with a spot in the Eastern Conference finals at stake.
“We won a series and we’re going to enjoy it tonight, and tomorrow it’s a new day and it’s going to be a new series,” Ovechkin said. “We have to be smart and we have to move on and game by game.”
Ovechkin led the way with his power-play goal 11 minutes in, setting off chants of “Ovi! Ovi!” from the juiced-up crowd. Pierre-Luc Dubois delivered a perfect pass to Jakob Chychrun, who beat Jakub Dobes just over two minutes later. Tom Wilson provided a valuable insurance goal on the power play late in the second period.
Fans expressed their appreciation for Thompson with chants of “LT! LT!” when he turned aside Kaiden Guhle on a three-on-one rush and with under two minutes left when he flashed his glove to rob Nick Suzuki with Dobes pulled for an extra attacker. Brandon Duhaime sealed it with an empty-netter with 25.6 seconds left.
Much like the final minutes of Game 2, Thompson was at his best at the start when the Canadiens came out with the desperation expected from a team facing elimination and then in the third when they pressed and tilted the ice toward him.
“He’s a rock,” center Dylan Strome said. “He was great. I thought he did what he did all year. He kept us in it, made the big saves when we needed it.”
The Capitals asserted their dominance in the East’s 1 versus 8 series, a year after getting swept as the underdog in it by the New York Rangers. Banged up and without top goalie Sam Montembeault and scoring winger Patrik Laine, the Canadiens got a goal from Emil Heineman but ultimately ran out of steam after going on a tear down the stretch in the regular season to be the last team to qualify for the playoffs.
“We had a good push in the third, and I think when teams gave us a little bit of space, we were very dangerous,” coach Martin St. Louis said. “If we introduced ourself to the rest of the league in this playoffs, especially being the youngest team and stuff, I think we can walk out of here with our head held high.”
OTTAWA, Ontario — Max Pacioretty scored the tiebreaking goal with less than six minutes remaining, leading the Toronto Maple Leafs to a series-clinching 4-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night in Game 6 of their first-round matchup.
William Nylander had two goals, including an empty-netter in the final seconds, and an assist, and Auston Matthews added a power-play goal in the first period for Toronto. Anthony Stolarz made 20 saves.
Brady Tkachuk and David Perron scored for Ottawa. Thomas Chabot had two assists and Linus Ullmark made 19 saves.
The Maple Leafs advanced to take on the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Panthers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games in their first-round series.
Toronto grabbed a 3-0 series lead, but Ottawa stayed alive with a 4-3 overtime victory in Game 4 and a 4-0 shutout in Game 5.
The Maple Leafs finally put away the Senators in Game 6.
With the game tied at 2, Pacioretty — a heathy scratch to start the series — scored the winner with 5:39 remaining off a pass from Max Domi that beat Ullmark to the glove side. It was Pacioretty’s first goal of the playoffs.
Scott Laughton hit the post before Nylander iced it into the empty net with 18.3 seconds left.
Matthews put Toronto up 1-0 on a power play with 70 seconds left in the first period when he fired a low shot through traffic.
Nylander, on his 29th birthday, made it 2-0 just 43 seconds into the second when he ripped a shot past Ullmark after Pacioretty forced a turnover from Senators defenseman Nick Jensen.
Ottawa got on the board at 7:28 when Tkachuk tipped a shot past Stolarz.
Toronto, which beat Ottawa four times in five playoffs series in the early 2000s, came close to restoring its two-goal lead when John Tavares poked a loose puck off the post before Ullmark denied Matthew Knies and Brandon Carlo off the rush.
Perron scored with 7:20 left in regulation to tie it on a shot from below the goal line that went in off Stolarz’s back to make it 2-2.
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