WASHINGTON — For the first time in seven years, the Washington Capitals were on the smiling end of a playoff handshake line. And they got to enjoy it at home for the first time in a decade.
Alex Ovechkin scored on a laser of a shot off a faceoff, Logan Thompson made some spectacular saves among his 28 and the Capitals beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-1 in Game 5 of their first-round series Wednesday night to advance in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
It’s the Capitals’ first series win since capturing the Cup in 2018, and they clinched at home for the first time since 2015. They face the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round with a spot in the Eastern Conference finals at stake.
“We won a series and we’re going to enjoy it tonight, and tomorrow it’s a new day and it’s going to be a new series,” Ovechkin said. “We have to be smart and we have to move on and game by game.”
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Ovechkin led the way with his power-play goal 11 minutes in, setting off chants of “Ovi! Ovi!” from the juiced-up crowd. Pierre-Luc Dubois delivered a perfect pass to Jakob Chychrun, who beat Jakub Dobes just over two minutes later. Tom Wilson provided a valuable insurance goal on the power play late in the second period.
Fans expressed their appreciation for Thompson with chants of “LT! LT!” when he turned aside Kaiden Guhle on a three-on-one rush and with under two minutes left when he flashed his glove to rob Nick Suzuki with Dobes pulled for an extra attacker. Brandon Duhaime sealed it with an empty-netter with 25.6 seconds left.
Much like the final minutes of Game 2, Thompson was at his best at the start when the Canadiens came out with the desperation expected from a team facing elimination and then in the third when they pressed and tilted the ice toward him.
“He’s a rock,” center Dylan Strome said. “He was great. I thought he did what he did all year. He kept us in it, made the big saves when we needed it.”
The Capitals asserted their dominance in the East’s 1 versus 8 series, a year after getting swept as the underdog in it by the New York Rangers. Banged up and without top goalie Sam Montembeault and scoring winger Patrik Laine, the Canadiens got a goal from Emil Heineman but ultimately ran out of steam after going on a tear down the stretch in the regular season to be the last team to qualify for the playoffs.
“We had a good push in the third, and I think when teams gave us a little bit of space, we were very dangerous,” coach Martin St. Louis said. “If we introduced ourself to the rest of the league in this playoffs, especially being the youngest team and stuff, I think we can walk out of here with our head held high.”
