Canadiens: The Captain Seals The Deal In OT

Coach Martin St-Louis had decided to challenge his rookie goaltender Jakub Dobes once more by giving him a game against another top-team. With him in net, the Montreal Canadiens had yet to lose a game.

The Washington Capitals had no intention of falling victim to the young netminder, and when Michael Pezzetta took a tripping penalty, Spencer Carbery was able to unleash his lethal power play. Less than a minute later, Jakob Chychrun pounced on a rare Jake Evans turnover, picked his spot and beat Dobes with a wicked wrist shot, scoring the only goal of the first frame.

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Jayden Struble then took a hooking call, but on that power play, Dobes shut the door, saving his best stop for Tom Wilson on the doorstep. It wasn't a very eventful first period, aside from power play sequences, and the Canadiens got their first opportunity late in the frame.

With Pierre-Luc Dubois in the sin bin, Charlie Lindgren robbed Lane Hutson who drilled a shot after a great Cole Caufield pass. The Washington goaltender then somehow prevented Juraj Slafkovsky from scoring on the rebound.

While the Canadiens didn't score, the man-advantage once again allowed Hutson to show how talented he is. Before taking the shot, he was the one who made the zone entry for the Habs and even with Kirby Dach misreading his play and getting in his way, he managed to thread the puck to Caufield on the other side, through incoming Capitals players. Whenever Slafkovsky tries that kind of pass, it gets intercepted, but Hutson seems to be able to do it with his eyes shut.

If the first was uneventful, it wasn't the case for the middle frame. The Habs came out flying and completely dominated those 20 minutes, even though they got themselves another couple of penalties.

Less than five minutes into the period, Kaiden Guhle fed the puck to Slafkovsky who spotted Caufield right by the goal all on his lonesome, and the sniper made no mistake, tying the game with his fifth goal in as many games.

Then, after 13 minutes of play and with Dach sitting in the box for a dangerous play on Tom Wilson, Josh Anderson flew all the way down the ice to Logan Thompson (who had to replace Charlie Lindgren after a collision with Nick Suzuki - who was pushed into him) and scored to give Montreal a 2-1 lead.

After 40 minutes, the Canadiens were dominating in the shots department with 21 to the Caps' 10 and Dobes was playing his easiest game in the big league so far. The Capitals weren't about to go down without a fight though and they were able to tie up the game less than two minutes into the third.

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Speedster Ethen Frank manged to beat an icing call and swipe the puck from under Arber Xhekaj's nose to feed Lars Eller and the Dane made it count, bringing everyone back to square one. The teams battled hard for the remaining 18 minutes, but no one else found the back of the net.

In overtime, St-Louis sent out Suzuki, Evans and Hutson, hoping to win the faceoff. Things didn't go according to plan but still, at 1:15 in extra time, it was the captain who won it for the Canadiens for a second game in a row, his fourth overtime game winner.

Another win for the Canadiens and a third straight triumph for Dobes to start his NHL career. If the coach didn't deem it necessary to punish Caufield against Vancouver when he got the penalty that allowed the Canucks to tie up the game, he was tougher on Struble. The blueliner got two penalties in just over five minutes of action and he never saw the ice again after exiting the box for the second time.

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As for Michael Pezzetta, he took a penalty and was on the ice for a goal against in just over three minutes of action, meaning there was a turnstile by Dach and Alex Newhook's side for the rest of the night.

While the Canadiens have won three of the four games they've played without Patrik Laine and David Savard, there's no denying the players would be fresher for tomorrow's game had they been dressed tonight.

Tomorrow's opponents the Dallas Stars arrived in town on Thursday night and will be ready and rested when the puck drops at 7:00 PM, there's no guarantee the Canadiens will be. Should Laine not be ready to play tomorrow, it could be worth calling up someone from the Laval Rocket, but the AHL team was also playing tonight in Cleveland.

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