Shorthanded Caps Fall to Canadiens

By: Justin Creech

Washington, DC—The Washington Capitals saved their biggest push for the last two minutes of Friday night’s game against the Montreal Canadiens. Unfortunately for the Capitals it was 58 minutes too late.
Brendan Morrison scored with 2:32 to go to pull the Capitals within one and a hooking call on the Canadiens Maxim Lapierre with 1:54 remaining gave the Capitals a 6 on 4 power play. However, it proved too little to late as the Capitals were unable to take advantage of their late fortune falling to the Canadiens, 3-2, at Verizon Center.
The Capitals struggled at times to put consistent pressure on Canadiens goaltender Carey Price and seldom got more than one shot on price at a time.
“We had some good scoring chances in spurts,” said Morrison, who’s goal was his seventh of the season. “We turned it on at the end but it was too little, too late. We ran out of time.”
The Canadiens entered the game 10 points behind the Capitals in the Eastern Conference standings.
“They played a really smart game,” said Boudreau. “It’s easy to rip on your players when you lose to a team that’s below you in the standings, but I thought Montreal played a strong game.”
After Morrison’s goal and the penalty on Lapierre, the Capitals pushed with an urgency they lacked throughout most of the game. Mike Green and Alex Ovechkin were able to get clear shots on Price with one of Green’s hitting the right post. None, however, found the back of the net.
Boudreau blamed his team not coming out with a sense of urgency to start the game as a prime factor in the game’s outcome.
“I didn’t think we were ready at the start of the game,” said Boudreau. “I think we thought we [are] the Washington Capitals and we’re going to go out there and it’s going to be an easy win. When we got the sense of urgency like we had in the last two periods, sometimes it is too late when the other goaltender is on the top of his game.”
The game came with yet another injury as defenseman Tom Poti left the game about four minutes into the second period and did not return. Boudreau said after the game that Poti is day to day with an upper body injury.
Poti would be the seventh player absent from the opening night roster if he is unable to play tomorrow night against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Boudreau, though, says it’s a only a problem is the Capitals let it become one.
“It is what it is,” said Boudreau. “If you have your best players they get most of the ice time anyway, so it should work in [our] favor. We’ll see.”
The loss also spoiled what was a solid debut for Capitals defenseman John Carlson. Carlson was called up from the Capitals minor league affiliate Hershey Bears to fill in for the injured Milan Jurcina, who is out with a muscle pull in his leg. Carlson hit the post early in the second period on a shot from the point that would’ve given the Capitals a 2-0 lead. He finished with 17:24 of ice time.
“I thought he played with a lot of poise,” said Boudreau. “In his first game he hit a post. I thought his shots from the point were accurate. He’s going to be a good player in this league for a long time.”
Said Carlson, “It’s unbelievable. To have my parents and my brother who flew in from Boston. The only thing that could’ve been better was if we won.”
Despite the slow start, the Capitals did manage to score the game’s first goal for the 17th time in 22 games. Eric Fehr beat Price over his left shoulder on a wrist shot from the right circle at 11:52. Mathieu Perreault set up Fehr’s tally after digging the puck out of the corner and finding Fehr open in the circle.
Montreal didn’t wait long in the second period to get the game turned in their favor. Travis Moen beat Capitals goaltender Michael Neuvirth on a shot from the point at 3:59 to tie the game. Two minutes 47 seconds later the Canadiens had the lead on a goal by Tomas Plekanec that was deflected by Brendan Morrison through Neuvirth’s five hole.