Martin St. Louis wanted a victory.
It didn’t happen Monday night, but the way his young group rallied after a difficult start gave the Montreal bench boss reason to think a win might not be far away.
The underdog Canadiens showed they’re ready for a fight despite losing Game 1 of their first-round playoff series with the Washington Capitals 3-2 in overtime.
“We were probably going to have to weather the storm and really feel what that feels like — the pressure, the physicality, the pace of the game,” St. Louis said after many of his players tasted playoff action for the first time.
“There was a lot of good stuff. Unfortunately you don’t win, but we got some really good stuff from this game.”
Montreal — the youngest team in the post-season and last to clinch a spot — came back from a 2-0 deficit to force overtime.
The valiant effort fell just short against Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals.
Ovechkin scored twice, including the first playoff overtime winner of his career for the top-seeded Capitals at Capital One Arena.
The Great Eight also led the charge with a team-leading seven hits a few weeks after breaking Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record.
“He’s been doing that his whole career,” Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki said. “Physically he was trying to throw the body around and lead that way, too.”
Ovechkin and Anthony Beauvillier — the other goal scorer — set the tone early with two bone-crunching checks 20 seconds into the night. The physical intimidation didn’t stop there.
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Washington totalled 20 hits in the first period — including seven in the opening four minutes — and mixed it up after each whistle, overwhelming the inexperienced Canadiens.
“They’re amped up, fans are screaming after every hit. Gives them energy,” Suzuki said. “We didn’t really bring our A game early. The pressure was kind of getting to us.”
Three defencemen, three forwards and goaltender Sam Montembeault made their playoff debuts for a Montreal squad that spent the last three years rebuilding and surprised many by reaching the post-season.
“Never know what to expect,” rookie Lane Hutson said. “It was physical.”
“They came out flying,” added fellow blueliner Kaiden Guhle. “They were hitting everything, feeding off the energy of the building there. They’ve obviously been in the situation before, a lot of them.”
Tom Wilson laid out Guhle. Andrew Mangiapane sucker-punched Hutson and came out of it with a Washington power play — leading to the opening goal. Ovechkin later ran over Cole Caufield like a truck.
A difficult start for Montreal had veteran-savvy Washington looking like it might bulldoze its way to victory.
Then a power play midway through the third period sparked a comeback, something the Canadiens have made a habit of pulling off this season.
Caufield scored at 10:32 before Suzuki waited out a sliding Logan Thompson amid a scramble to equalize with 4:15 remaining in regulation.
Ovechkin found space alone in the crease and buried the winner past Montembeault 2:26 into the extra period, but the Canadiens believe they’ve proven it’s a series they can win.
“We’re a good team,” Suzuki said. “Game is really tight both ways, trading chances and defending hard. So I expect a lot more of that in the series.”
The Canadiens returned to the playoffs for the first time since reaching the Stanley Cup final in the pandemic-shortened 2021 season.
Montreal entered with 91 points and a minus-20 goal differential, the worst of any team in the playoffs. The Canadiens, however, went on a 15-5-6 run after the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament break, ranking sixth in the NHL during that stretch.
Washington topped the Eastern Conference with 111 points, but slowed down later in the season with losses in eight of its last 12 regular-season games.
Game 2 is scheduled for Wednesday in Washington before the series shifts to Montreal.
“It’s a great experience for the guys that haven’t experienced this before,” Suzuki said. “We’ll be in better shape coming into Game 2.”
NOT SATISFIED
The Canadiens exceeded expectations just by reaching the playoffs, but St. Louis said his players wouldn’t put their feet up now that they’re in.
“You clinch a spot in the playoffs, it’s not like you arrive here looking for a participation ribbon,” he said Monday morning.
“We’ve beat some really good teams this year.”
ON THE MEND
The Capitals could be adding another physical presence soon. Breakout forward Aliaksei Protas, out with a foot injury, skated alone for 15 minutes Monday before Washington’s morning skate.
Although Portas didn’t suit up in Game 1, head coach Spencer Carbery seems confident the six-foot-six, 247-pound winger will participate in the series.
“I would expect him to play, and we’ll just see when that is,” said Carbery on Monday morning. “Might be Game 2. We’ll see.”
The 24-year-old Protas had 30 goals and 36 assists in 75 games this season, shattering his previous career highs of six goals and 29 points.
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