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7:00 P.M: Habs To Hear Cheers, Not Boo Birds At Game 4 Versus Caps
Montreal (Sports Network) - The top-seeded Washington Capitals will try to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals tonight, when they visit the Montreal Canadiens for Game 4 at Bell Centre.
Since losing the opener of this best-of-seven series in overtime, the Presidents' Trophy-winning Capitals have rattled off back-to-back wins, including a 5-1 dismantling of the Habs in Montreal on Monday. A victory tonight would give Washington a chance to end the series in Friday's Game 5 matchup in D.C.
Montreal, meanwhile, will try to get its defense back on track after yielding 11 goals over the last two games. Since holding a 4-1 lead in the second period of Game 2, which Washington won by a 6-5 score in overtime, the eighth- seeded Canadiens have been outscored 10-2 by the Capitals.
Alex Ovechkin scored in a four-goal second period to lift Washington to Monday's easy Game 3 victory at Bell Centre. Brooks Laich and Eric Fehr each had a goal and an assist while Boyd Gordon and Matt Bradley also lit the lamp for the Capitals.
"It felt good to come into a hostile environment and play the game we played," said Fehr. "We played pretty simple, nothing fancy and managed to get a win. One of the big goals for us was Boyd Gordon. He usually doesn't score goals. He puts a big goal in for us on their power play and it changed the momentum."
Semyon Varlamov, making the start in place of Jose Theodore, who was pulled in Game 2, stopped 26 shots for the win. The switch in net brought back shades of last season when a wobbly Theodore started Game 1 against New York. Washington head coach Bruce Boudreau went with Varlamov for Game 2 and stuck with the untested rookie for the duration of the 2009 postseason.
Varlamov will almost certainly get the call again tonight, although Boudreau stopped short of officially declaring him the Game 4 starter.
Washington hopes to get its power-play untracked tonight after going 0-for-7 on the man advantage on Monday. The Caps have yet to score a goal on 14 opportunities with the man advantage during this series despite ending the regular season with the NHL’s top-ranked power-play unit.
Tomas Plekanec scored the lone goal for the Canadiens, who are trying to avoid a second straight opening-round exit after getting swept in the East quarters by Boston last spring.
“We had a good first period, but we got frustrated after that shorthanded goal,” said Plekanec. “They scored during our power play and they scored several more before we came back. It happens, we have to look forward to the next game.”
Jaroslav Halak was pulled in the second period after giving up three goals on 13 shots. Carey Price stopped 21 shots in relief and could get the start tonight since Halak has a dismal .887 save percentage in the series.
Price, who hasn't started a playoff game since Game 4 against the Bruins last year, is 5-10 with a 3.11 goals against average in 15 career postseason contests.
Montreal was 20-16-5 at the Bell Centre this season. The Capitals had an excellent 24-10-7 record as the road team during the regular season.
The Habs and Caps have never faced each other in the postseason before this spring, but played a very tight season series this year. Each team won two games and only one of the four tilts was decided by more than one goal -- a 4-2 win by Washington on Jan. 5.
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