T.J. Oshie had a goal and an assist and the Washington Capitals beat the Montreal Canadiens 3-1 on Saturday night to avoid their first 0-3-0 start since the 2012-13 lockout season.
Conor Sheary and Anthony Mantha also scored for the Capitals.
After back-to-back losses to open the 2022-23 campaign, coach Peter Laviolette shook up the line combinations to try and ignite a spark. The message was heard loud and clear in the locker room, and led to more urgency.
“After two games like that, it is a way to tell the guys, `Hey, it is time to get going.’ We have a certain standard that we need to play up to, live up to here, and we weren’t doing that in the first two games,” Oshie said.
“We need to keep pushing that standard as the season goes and roll those things over. But definitely when the lines get mixed around … you come to the rink a little more focused than maybe you would otherwise.”
WATCH | Oshie leads Capitals past Habs:
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Washington defeats Montreal 3-1, T.J. Oshie records a goal and an assist.
Down 1-0 after Nick Suzuki’s goal, the Capitals got a much-needed spark on special teams that led to three goals in the second period.
“They came at us, got a lot of good shots … they kind of took it to us in the second,” Canadiens forward Jonathan Drouin said. “I thought we had a good start in the first and obviously a good third period. It kind of stings that way, but they’re a team with experience and a lot of chemistry, and they’re going to find ways to get goals.”
“It was a grind, but the power play I thought did a really good job of moving pucks around,” Laviolette said. “I think there were a lot of chances on the power play. We scored, they moved it around really well and generated looks all over. That was really positive to see.”
In addition to his goal and a team-leading five shots, Oshie assisted on Anthony Mantha’s goal that went in off of Sam Montembeault. The 35-year-old Oshie, who had core surgery before the season and was dealing with an upper-body injury in the preseason, has three points in three games.
Darcy Kuemper also bounced back for a strong showing in his second game between the pipes for the Capitals. After allowing four goals on 29 shots in his Washington debut Wednesday against Boston, the 32-year-old — fresh off a Stanley Cup in Colorado — looked much sharper against Montreal. He finished the night with 21 saves.
Montembeault had 26 saves for the Canadiens, who drop to 1-2-0 to start the season.
It did appear that Ovechkin had his first goal of the season after tapping in Erik Gustafsson’s point shot, but it was overturned after a coach’s challenge for offside. Ovechkin finished the night with five shots on goal and hit the post on an empty-net attempt, but was again held off the scoresheet. This is the first time since the 2012-13 lockout year that Ovechkin has gone three straight games without a goal to open a season.
Looking ahead to Monday night, the Canadiens host Pittsburgh while the Capitals host former coach Bruce Boudreau and the Vancouver Canucks.