MONTREAL 鈥� A bench brawl. Two starting goalies exiting with injuries. A dominant 6-3 victory from the home team.
The long wait for a full-house playoff game at the Bell Centre culminated in a night that won鈥檛 soon be forgotten.
The Montreal Canadiens ran over the Capitals in an electric Game 3 on Friday, cutting Washington鈥檚 lead to 2-1 in the first-round, best-of-seven playoff series.
鈥淚nsane. I still can't believe it,鈥� rookie defenceman Lane Hutson said. 鈥淚t's surreal."
Captain Nick Suzuki used the word 鈥渆motional鈥� to describe the evening. Cole Caufield called the night 鈥渆nergetic,鈥� selling it miles short.
There were heavy hits 鈥� 45 from the Canadiens alone 鈥� loads of goals and drama before a passionate fan base starved for playoff action.
鈥淲e've been waiting a long time for this,鈥� Josh Anderson said. 鈥淥ur fan base has been waiting, us players have been waiting. It's been a few tough years.鈥�
Standing out among it all 鈥� a heated fight between Anderson and hard-hitting Capitals forward Tom Wilson that spilled into Washington鈥檚 bench at the end of the second period.
After some pushing and shoving between Wilson and bruising defenceman Arber Xhekaj, Anderson intervened before falling backwards into the Capitals' bench, which had a door open.
The six-foot-four, 225-pound Wilson followed the six-foot-three, 226-pound Anderson in and charged through a linesman toward the Canadiens winger before a crackling crowd.
Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery watched it unfold from a front-row seat.
"I was on my way to walk across the ice,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hen I had to reverse my course and head back, because there were two large individuals coming through the door that I was trying to exit.鈥�
"Things escalated. Got out of control there a little bit,鈥� Anderson added. 鈥淵ou're just trying to stick up for your teammates."
Cole Caufield and Alex Newhook had a goal and an assist while Christian Dvorak, Nick Suzuki, Alexandre Carrier and Juraj Slafkovsky also scored in a full-team effort for Montreal.
Alex Ovechkin, Connor McMichael and Jakob Chychrun replied for Washington, which won Games 1 and 2 at home.
Montreal goaltender Sam Montembeault stopped 11 of 13 shots before exiting with 8:21 remaining in the second period with an undisclosed injury. Rookie netminder Jakub Dobes saved seven of eight the rest of the way.
Meanwhile, Logan Thompson 鈥� berated by 鈥淭homp-son!鈥� taunts all night 鈥� stopped 30 of 35 shots before also leaving with an injury.
The Capitals netminder needed to be helped off the ice after teammate Dylan Strome crashed into him following Slafkovsky鈥檚 goal with 6:37 remaining. Backup Charlie Lindgren made four saves in relief.
Neither coach had an update on their starter鈥檚 status.
Moments before the jaw-dropping brawl, Caufield buried his second of the playoffs to put the Canadiens up 3-2 with nine seconds left in the second period after an interception and cross-ice feed from Hutson.
Ovechkin responded with a tying goal past Dobes 2:39 into the third period, but Dvorak鈥檚 shot banked off Duhaime and into the net at 4:17 to restore Montreal鈥檚 one-goal lead.
Slafkovsky then made it 5-3, slotting a Caufield pass into the net before Thompson left the ice in noticeable pain. Newhook put the game out of reach with a power-play goal at 17:35 as 鈥淥l茅, Ol茅鈥� chants echoed around the building.
"We knew we had to turn it up to another level,鈥� Slafkovsky said. "It was something crazy. I never experienced something like today. The crowd was amazing, and I hope we can bring more and more playoff games to this building.
鈥淭his is probably the best feeling."
It was Montreal鈥檚 first playoff game with a sold-out crowd since 2017. The Canadiens played before a limited-capacity crowd of 3,500 in their last playoff home game during a surprise run to the Stanley Cup final in a pandemic-shortened 2021 season.
Three years of dwelling near the NHL鈥檚 basement followed in a market where hockey is often described as religion.
Amped up well before the puck dropped, the crowd let out deafening 鈥淕o Habs Go!鈥� chants after the Canadiens jumped out onto the ice. The feverish cheers delayed the national anthems, before fans mercilessly booed 鈥淭he Star-Spangled Banner鈥� and belted out 鈥淥 Canada.鈥�
"It was special, to be honest, just during the anthem and how loud the building was, it's hard to describe it. I think you have to live it,鈥� Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis said. 鈥淥ur fans were unbelievable tonight. We needed that juice. They gave us the juice.鈥�
Game 4 will take place Sunday evening back at the Bell Centre.
鈥淭o think that we're doing that again in another day,鈥� Hutson said. 鈥淲e definitely can't take it for granted. We're fortunate that we get to do this.鈥�
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 25, 2025.
Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press
