Washington 5 - Montreal 4 (OT)

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Alex Ovechkin apparently decided he owed the Canadiens a little something after his team was shut out in Montreal on Tuesday; the four goals and one assist he notched tonight in the second half of the home-and-home certainly makes it seem that way.

Ovechkin and Kozlov traded goals in the first and second period before Ovechkin netted his second of the night at the mid-point of the second period to give the Caps a 3-0 lead, leaving the Habs scratching their heads as Olie Kolzig stopped everything they threw at him. The Habs got a goal from Sergi Kostitsyn only 50 seconds after the second Ovechkin goal and brother Andrei landed a powerplay marker with a fraction of a second remaining in the period to cut the lead to 3-2; this was the first time that brothers had scored in the same game for Montreal since the Mahavolich brothers in 1974.

Ovechkin scored at 12:30 of the third to increase the Washington lead to 4-2 before Guillaume Latendresse scored 1:17 later to make it a one goal game again. Things went back and forth and the Habs finally pulled Christobal Huet and managed a goal with 32 seconds remaining, again from Latendresse.

Ovechkin scored his fourth goal of the game in overtime to end it but the Habs grab a point and gain some confidence after coming back from a 3-0 deficit.

January 31 - Washington Capitals

The Habs stroll into DC this afternoon to play the second game of a home-and-home with the Washington Capitals after taking the Caps down 4-0 this past Tuesday. With all four Canadiens lines functioning well and Christobal Huet looking very sharp in goal, Montreal will look to capture a season-high fourth straight win.

Montreal 4 - Washington 0

The Canadiens welcomed the Washington Capitals to the Bell Centre on Tuesday and worked some first period magic that is almost typical of them of late. Mark Streit, Saku Koivu and Sergei Kostitsyn all scored in the first period and Alex Kovalev added another in the third to put the Habs up 4-0 at the end of regulation. Christobal Huet was very sharp and made 35 saves on the way to his second shutout of the season.

January 29 - Washington Capitals

The Canadiens begin the post-All-Star portion of the season in a dead heat in the very crowded Eastern Conference and only six points behind Ottawa - with a game in hand. Every game counts, especially those played against teams with far lower rankings.

The Washington Capitals have other ideas though, and they will be trying mightily to take at least 2 points from this home-and-home series with the Habs. These two games will be the last time the teams meet in the regular season.

Washington 5 - Montreal 4 (OT)

The Canadiens met the Washington Capitals for the first time since beating them 5-2 in DC on December 20th and they came prepared for Ovechkin and company. The Habs opened scoring the first with a powerplay goal by Tomas Plekanec off of a crisp pass from Alexi Kovalev and continued to skate hard for the rest of the period. Oleg Kolzig played well, keeping the score at 1-0 going into the first intermission.

The Habs’ newest young superstar, Andrei Kostitsyn, buried his fourth goal in three games after dancing around three Caps defensemen to launch a snapshot over the blocker of Kolzig, putting the Canadiens up 2-0 only minutes into the second period. Only minutes later Alex Ovechkin ripped a wrist shot off of a clean faceoff win in the Canadiens zone over the shoulder of Carey Price, who appeared to be screened. Niklas Backstrom added another Caps goal only 3 minutes and 22 seconds later, beating Price on a 2-on-1 and evening the score at 2 goals apiece.

To Price’s credit he made a few big saves before and after the second Washington goal, taking the Habs safely through their third and fourth penalty kill of the game to keep the game tied; standout defensemen Mike Komisarek threw all the right hits to keep the Caps shotless during the latter. Only seconds later though, the Caps’ Gordon blasted a long slapshot past Carey Price on his glove side, putting Washington up 3-2 with their three unanswered second period goals.

Roman Hamrlik answered the Caps early in the third period on a deflection from the boards, tying the game at 3 goals for each side. The Habs went to the powerplay early, setting up a few decent chances but not putting it home. Ovechkin, the penalized player, jumped out of the box to put his second goal past Carey Price, putting the Caps up 4-3 with 13 minutes left to play in the third period. The Canadiens upped the pressure until 8:34 in the period when Alex Kovalev walked over the blue line and fired a wrist shot past Kolzig to tie the game at 4.

Into overtime we went and it wasn’t a minute and a half in before Washington’s Mike Green finished the game, giving the Caps the win 5-4.

GAME NOTES: I love Carey Price, but he looked soft on at least 3 of the goals in regulation. I’ll be looking forward to seeing Huet against Chicago on Tuesday. Andrei Kostitsyn scored another goal, continuing his three game scoring streak by making it 4 goals in his last three games.

January 5 - Washington Capitals

We’ve been horrible at home this year and, especially considering the renewed offensive effort of late, you can bet that the Montreal Canadiens are hoping for better things to come at the Bell Centre after a 6-3 pounding of the Tampa Bay Lightning there this past Thursday.

The Habs have been hot lately, coming off of a very successful road trip and following that up with the win at home. Christobal Huet has been playing well, Michael Ryder has broken his scoring slump and Andrei Kostitsyn is suddenly a powerhouse on the wing. While Ovechkin and company looked very good in their 4 point home-and-home roll over the Eastern Conference leading Ottawa Senators, they have lost their last four meetings against the Habs.

Guy Carbonneau hasn’t made the goaltending start public yet and my original prediction that Carey Price would get the start tonight could be off given Huet’s hot streak – he is 4-0-3 in his last 7 starts.

The Caps are going to be hungry for goals after being shutout against Boston on Friday night but I think they Habs have what it takes to power over them once again. I predict a 5-3 Canadiens win with Huet in the net, 5-2 with Price

Montreal 5 - Washington 2

The Habs got off to their typical slow start in Washington tonight, being outshot badly through the first few minutes of the game. On only their third shot and with only a few minutes remaining in the first, Saku Koivu put a perfect pass onto the blade of Latendresse from behind the net of Olie Kolzig to put the Canadiens up 1-0 going into the first intermission.

The second period didn’t look much better from Montreal’s bench with the Capitals continuing to dominate time on the attack and shots on goal, but Huet stood very strong in his injury return, maintaining the Montreal lead throughout the first half of the period. An odd-man rush lead by Alex Kovalev at about the 10 minutes mark saw him put a crisp pass to Plekanec who was left with a wide open net. Despite the state of the net, Plekanec missed the net entirely and had a prayer answered when goaltender Olie Kolzig turned to have the badly aimed shot redirect into the net and the Habs had a 2-0 lead. Youngster Nicholas Sundstrom put a puck over Huet during a Washington powerplay only a couple of minutes later to cut the lead to 2-1. Latendresse put a beautifully aimed wrist shot past Kolzig with only 2 minutes left in the second, grabbing his second goal of the game and giving the Habs a 3-1 lead with the third period looming.

Despite the scoring of the previous two periods, the Habs looked much more lively in the third. They took a 4-1 lead on the powerplay about midway through when Sergei Kostsitsyn tapped in his first ever NHL goal off of another great Kovalev pass. Washington responded only 34 seconds later when Alexander Semin ripped a wrist shot high over Huet’s shoulder but Mark Streit gave the Habs a three goal lead once again when he finished a Kyle Chipchura shot to put Montreal all up 5-2 and helping the Canadiens to their third win in four games.

GAME NOTES: The Habs were great on the powerplay and even scored a couple of goals at even-strength but they were still badly outshot, 37-21 in this case. Huet played wonderfully in his first game back since suffering a back pull and made several key saves throughout the game. Segei Kostsitsyn notched his first NHL goal and brother Andrei earned an assist on Plekanec’s goal.

Buffalo 5 - Washington 3

Oleg Kolzig and the Caps put up a valient effort but the Buffalo Sabres were able to score with five minutes remaining in the third to take a 4-3 lead over Washington before adding an empty netter to seal the deal.

The Sabres have won their last two and are 6-4-0 in their last 10 while the Capitals are 5-4-1.

Washington Capitals Fire Coach

The league worst Washington Capitals have officially fired head coach Glen Hanlon this week in a move they hope will bring fresh leadership and a fresh start. The Caps originally had high hopes for the playoffs this season and are rightfully upset at earning a mere 13 points in their first 21 games of the season. They’ve lost 9 of their last ten and the previous 5 games straight – there really is nothing to lose at this point.

Bruce Boudreau, head coach of the AHL’s Hershey Bears, has been called up from the minors to take over behind the Washington bench. The new coach has made a strong impression in the practice sessions he’s attended and it will definitely be interesting to see how the Capitals fare under new leadership. Here’s hoping!