Ovechkin, Capitals completed from the Canadians; the next hurricane is next

Washington – Washington Capitals are smiling at the end of the playoff handshake line for the first time. For the first time in a decade, they had to enjoy it at home.

Alex Ovechkin scored on the face-off laser and Logan Thompson made some huge saves in his 28 shots, with the Capitals defeating the Montreal Canadiens 4-1 in Game 5 of the first round series Wednesday night to advance in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

It was the first victory for the Capitals since 2018, and they won the championship at home for the first time since 2015. They faced the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round and faced a dangerous Eastern Conference Finals in the Eastern Conference Finals.

“We won the series, we'll enjoy it tonight, tomorrow is a new day, and it's going to be a new series,” Ovechkin said. “We have to be smart, we have to keep moving forward and play by the game.”

Ovechkin led his strength goal with an 11-minute goal, starting the ode to “ovi!ovi!”. From the juicer crowd. Pierre-Luc Dubois provided Jakob Chychrun with the perfect pass, who beat Jakob Dobes two minutes later. Tom Wilson offers valuable insurance goals later in the second phase.

Fans praised Thompson with an ode of “Lt!lt!”. When he turned around in a three-on-one charge, Kaiden Guhle had less than two minutes left, and when he flashed his gloves, Rob Nick Suzuki and Dobes attracted additional attackers together. Brandon Duhaime closed it with an empty netter with 25.6 seconds left.

Like the last few minutes of Game 2, Thompson was at his best in the first place, when the Canadiens showed up in despair against the eliminated team before pressing him on the third team and tilting the ice to him.

“He’s a rock,” center Dylan Strome said. “He's great. I thought he did his job all year round. He kept us in it and made a big savings when we needed it.”

The capital claimed its dominance in the 1-on-8 series in the East, and a year later, the New York Rangers defeated the weak. The Canadians beat goalkeeper Sam Montembeault and winger Patrik Laine, who scored a goal from Emil Heineman but eventually ran out of steam after knocking out the season in the regular season to become the last team to qualify for the playoffs.

“We did a good job in the third quarter and I think we were very dangerous when the team gave us some space,” said coach Martin St. Louis. “If we introduce other members of ourselves in the playoffs, especially to be the youngest team and stuff, I think we can move forward with a high head.”