The Montreal Canadiens will need production from their top players to climb back into their Eastern Conference first-round series against the Washington Capitals.
The Capitals hold a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series heading into Game 3 on Friday in Montreal.
Canadiens forward Patrik Laine did not play at all in the third period on Wednesday night in Game 2, a 3-1 loss in Washington.
“They’re decisions you make as a coach,” Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said. “I shortened my bench by a lot in the third. Honestly, I went with the nine or 10 (forwards) who I thought could help the cause.”
Laine was not the only forward that spent considerable time on the bench, as Joel Armia only played one shift in the third.
Laine, who logged only 10:10 of total ice time in Game 2, had 20 goals (including 15 on the power play) in 52 games during the regular season. He has struggled recently with only one goal in 11 games going back to the regular season. Laine had an assist in 13:14 of ice time in Game 1.
Even without Laine, Montreal was able to pressure Washington with 14 shots on goal in the third. Capitals goalie Logan Thompson was up to the task, however, and stopped them all.
“I think we put up a pretty good fight in the third,” Montreal captain Nick Suzuki said. “Had a bunch of scoring chances that could have went in, but I think overall we’re not that satisfied with how we’re playing right now. We need to go home and regroup and really bear down in these next couple of games at home.”
Connor McMichael scored twice for Washington and Dylan Strome was credited with the eventual game-winning goal.
Christian Dvorak gave the Canadiens an early lead in the second period before McMichael and Strome scored one minute apart. McMichael’s second goal was an empty-net effort in the third.
Although Sam Montembeault had 29 saves for Montreal, it was Thompson’s performance that had people talking.
“That was the ‘LT’ that we saw it for, call it 40 games or whatever he was playing at the beginning of the year where you could feel the confidence,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said. “You could feel the building with the energy with each save. It felt like he just got bigger and bigger and bigger. He was tested. He made some huge saves in that third period to keep us in front.”
St. Louis found a positive despite seeing his team lose the first two games of the series.
“These were two games where you can’t buy that experience for our players,” he said. “We battled, there were moments that hurt us, they cost us the game. But the team doesn’t give up, we had a lot of chances in the third to maybe repeat what happened Monday and go to overtime.”
