Canadiens @ Capitals: Start time, Tale of the Tape, & how to watch
Montreal Canadiens @ Washington Capitals
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Start time: 7:00 p.m. EDT / 4:00 p.m. PDT
In Canada: CityTV, Sportsnet East (English)TVA Sport (French)
In the capitals region: NBC SportsWashington
Stream: ESPN+, Sportsnet now
Looking to start the season with back-to-back wins, the Canadians soon discovered last night that the Detroit Red Wings were playing with more cohesive five-man units than the Toronto Maple Leafs were two days earlier. The Habs took advantage of sloppy defense and undisciplined positioning in Wednesday’s season opener, but Detroit didn’t make those mistakes. The result was a completely overwhelmed Canadiens club, allowing 25 shots in the first 20 minutes.
Jake Allen’s incredible play at the net allowed them to catch their breath at the first break without conceding a goal, but it was clear that whatever game plan they had going into the competition was against this vastly improved Red Wings team wouldn’t work.
After some adjustments, the Habs looked more competitive in the last 40 minutes, holding their opponent on 15 shots the rest of the way and generating several quality chances themselves, but they couldn’t untie Ville Husso’s and Elmer Soderblom’s goal early in the third period determined as the winner.
Montreal are back in action against a winless Capitals tonight in Washington.
history of the band
| Canadian | statistics | capital Cities |
|---|---|---|
| Canadian | statistics | capital Cities |
| 1-1-0 | recording | 0-2-0 |
| 40.5% (26th) | Goal Odds-for % | 43.7% (26th) |
| 2.00 (22.) | goals per game | 2.00 (22n) |
| 3.00 (14.) | Goals conceded per game | 4.00 (23.) |
| 0.0% (23rd) | PP% | 0.0% (23rd) |
| 100.0% (1st) | PC% | 66.7% (21st) |
| 0-3-0 | H2H record (21-22) | 3-0-0 |
Washington started their season with a 5-2 loss to the Boston Bruins, then fell to the Maple Leafs the next night to start their season 2-0. Alexander Ovechkin has yet to score a goal this season and Nic Dowd is the team’s top scorer with one goal and one assist.
The Capitals are currently in a state of transition with many forwards in the final year of their contracts while John Carlson is the only defenseman to be signed after this year. The organization appears to be hoping for one more playoff run from the current group before major changes come in the offseason.
They took a step towards their future by signing goaltender Darcy Kuemper on a mid-term, $5.25 million-per-season contract. He was the keeper in the net in that 5-2 opening defeat so it wasn’t a great first impression he made on his new team, but he and the team will be expecting more the rest of the way.
Like the Canadiens, the Capitals don’t start the season with the roster they put together during the offseason. Tom Wilson and Carl Hagelin are out and Nicklas Backstrom is on long-term injured reserve after hip resurfacing. Those are three key attacking sources missing from their lineup, which could make up for Montreal’s missing players on the blue line.
The Habs will hope Kaiden Guhle doesn’t get added to this list after missing about a whole period of action last night. The Canadiens would be playing on the top left without all three of their options if he couldn’t go, which would be a difficult situation even against a decimated Capitals offense. Corey Schueneman is back with the team to fill in if needed.
Based on the report from today’s optional morning skate, Jonathan Drouin could make his season debut after sitting out the first two games and taking Rem Pitlick’s place in the lineup. We’ll learn what lineup Martin St-Louis will be running with when he addresses the media at 5:00 p.m. Eastern.