Habs Lose To Capitals In Shoot Out

The Montreal Canadiens came back from a 2-0 deficit to take the lead in the 3rd period, only to have the Washington Capitals tie it with 12 seconds left in regulation. Overtime solved nothing and Habs goalie Carey Price couldn't keep Nicklas Backstrom from scoring in the shoot out to give Washington the win. Sweet revenge for the Capitals, who lost lost 3 straight beginning with a 3-2 loss to Montreal November 20th. This makes 3 losses in Montreal's last 4 games.

Eric Fehr tipped in his 5th of the year on a shot from defenseman Karl Alzner which best Price at 8:47 of the 1st. That was Alzner's first point in 2 Caps games this year. A minute and 12 seconds later, Alexander Ovechkin scored his 18th on another long shot on Price that eluded the Habs goalie. Ovechkin cruised over the Canadiens' blueline and took a one-timer from a pass from Nicklas Backstrom.

Jaroslav Spacek scored a power play goal early in the 2nd on Caps netminder Semyon Varlamov. Tomas Plekanec tied it up with his 6th of the season at 13:50. Roman Hamrlik assisted on both Habs goals in the second. Travis Moen put the Canadiens up 3-2 with a power play goal in the 3rd. Washington was down 2 men due to penalties and had just killed off one Montreal advantage, but the Habs had the puck in Washington's end and Moen deflected Marc-Andre Bergeron's shot past Varlamov.

The Habs couldn't hold off a determined Caps team as Washington won a faceoff and moved the puck to Ovechkin whose shot from the top of the slot was stopped by Price, but Eric Fehr pounced on the juicy rebound stuffing it 5-hole with twelve seconds left forcing overtime. That was Fehr's 2nd goal of the game. Neither team could do much in the extra frame, so off to the shootout, where both Price and Varlamov stopped everything thrown at them, but the last shooter, Backstrom beat Price with a high shot to take the win for the Caps.

The Habs are off until Tuesday night when the Toronto Maple Leafs stop by. The Capitals hope to feast on the woeful Hurricane on Monday when they head to Carolina.