WASHINGTON — Ahead of his team’s game on Wednesday night, Spencer Carbery was asked how difficult it was to close out a series in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The coach of the Washington Capitals, his team up 3-1 in the series on the Montreal Canadiens, couldn’t help but laugh a bit. “It’s extremely difficult,” he said. At the time, he’d never done it; the Rangers swept the Capitals in Carbery’s first playoff series as an NHL coach.
“It is a gauntlet just to win a playoff game, let alone win a series,” Carbery said. “We know the obstacle in front of us and the challenges in front of us, and it’s on us to come out and play our best game of the series tonight on home ice.”
They came close enough, beating Montreal 4-1 in Game 5 and advancing to the second round of the playoffs behind a 28-save performance by Logan Thompson and goals by Alex Ovechkin, Jakob Chychrun and Tom Wilson. The Carolina Hurricanes, the second seed in the Eastern Conference, await them.
The Canadiens, meanwhile, failed to extend a season that brought with it a series of major leaps, individually and collectively.
Ovechkin pulls an Ovechkin
Given the circumstances, it seemed almost too easy to suggest that Alex Ovechkin would score the first goal of the game. After 9:12 of play, Washington had been outshot 8-1 but was about to start a one-minute, 23-second power play, thanks to Juraj Slafkovský’s stick-breaking slash on Brandon Duhaime. Ovechkin’s got a knack for that sort of thing, after all; nothing about his game (or the Capitals) up to that point had been particularly impressive — but you don’t become the all-time leading goal scorer without a healthy helping of quick-strike lightning bolts, either.
Lo and behold, Ovechkin scored immediately off a faceoff win by Dylan Strome, and the Capitals had a lead they wouldn’t relinquish despite a brutal start to their evening. The goal was Ovechkin’s fourth of the series and third at Capital One Arena. Strome has assisted on them all.
Logan Thompson takes care of business
While the Capitals rounded into shape over the first two periods, eventually grabbing a 3-0 lead on a 20-15 shot advantage after 40 minutes of play, Thompson was more than good enough to hold the fort.
Montreal had nearly two expected goals at the second intermission — not a crazy amount, but still a solid indicator of the quality of looks they were getting. Thompson made a handful of solid stops; two that stood out were a first-period, shorthanded pad save on Cole Caufield and another on Brendan Gallagher, all alone in front of Washington’s net, early in the second period. Fans at Capital One Arena noticed, chanting “LT! LT!” several times.
Thompson, of course, looked to be seriously injured during the Capitals’ Game 3 loss in Montreal; his leg bent awkwardly in a collision with teammate Dylan Strome, and he also copped to having his “bell rung” on the play. Whatever happened, he was cleared to play in Game 4, and he was effective but not particularly sharp in the Capitals 5-2 win. Wednesday night, though, he was better. Good news for him, good news for Washington.
Canadiens get early momentum, give it away
For two days, Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis was talking about the need for his Canadiens to grab momentum, starting with this game, and carrying it through this series.
The Capitals obliged them off the opening faceoff.
The Canadiens were buzzing through the first seven minutes, dominating possession, getting a couple of scoring chances and executing the start they were hoping for. An undisciplined penalty to Pierre-Luc Dubois – who knocked down Canadiens rookie Ivan Demidov on his way back to the bench – only added to it.
But then Slafkovský was called for slashing towards the end of that power play, and five seconds after the penalty to Dubois expired, there was a faceoff in the Canadiens zone. Christian Dvorak was sent out to take it against Dylan Strome, Strome won it and Ovechkin immediately scored.
Shots on goal were 8-1 Canadiens before that goal. It was the only faceoff Strome won in the first period, it was the only Dvorak lost in the first period, and it came because he broke his stick.
That is how fickle momentum can be, but it was lost at that moment for the Canadiens.
Jakub Dobeš up to the challenge
It is less than ideal going into an elimination game with your No. 1 goalie watching on television in another country, but that is the challenge the Canadiens faced, with Sam Montembeault left behind with an undisclosed injury suffered in the second period of Game 3.
In Montembeault’s place, Jakub Dobeš did everything he could to keep the Canadiens in the game through most of the first two periods. Neither of the first two Capitals goals could be reasonably pinned on Dobeš, and he had this masterpiece on Tom Wilson later in the first period to keep it a two-goal game.
OH MY JAKUB DOBES WHAT A SAVE!!! pic.twitter.com/qXDctK4hat
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 30, 2025
Wilson would get his revenge on the power play late in the second period when he made it 3-0 on the power play, but Dobeš did what he had to do to give the Canadiens a chance.
They did not lose this game because of goaltending.
Sour end to successful season
The Canadiens were not a particularly strong defensive team all season, but in the end, it was their offense that fell short. They spent the bulk of their practice Tuesday working on executing in the offensive zone, creating chances off plays from below the goal line, but that execution was lacking when it mattered most.
Not good enough, sure, but not entirely unexpected going up against the top seed in the Eastern Conference as the youngest team in the playoffs. It will be difficult for the Canadiens to see it this way, but their season was a success.
They battled hard and had a legitimate chance to win every game except the last one, and that will likely be the part that stings the most for this young team, that they were one play, one shot, one decision away from winning Games 1, 2 and 4 of this series.
Ultimately, in Game 5, they finally looked overmatched for the first time, the only game where they were not either tied or within a goal or leading at some point in the third period.
That’s how close the Canadiens were. They were also very far from where they hope to ultimately be.
But this was a good first step.
(Photo of Alex Ovechkin: Scott Taetsch / Getty Images)