MONTREAL (AP) — Christian Dvorak broke a tie at 4:17 of the third period and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Washington Capitals 6-3 on Friday night to cut their deficit in the first-round series to 2-1.
Dvorak fired shot from the far left side that hit Washington forward Brandon Duhaime and deflected past goalie Logan Thompson. Juraj Slafkovsky made it a two-goal game with 6:37 remaining, with Capitals forward Dylan Strome crashing into Thompson on the play and injuring him.
Thompson put no weight on his left skate while being helped off, leaving his status Sunday night for Game 4 in Montreal in doubt.
“It was tough, obviously, (Strome) is trying to get back and make a desperate play to save a goal and it’s unfortunate,” Capitals defenseman Jakob Chychrun.
Montreal also lost its starting goalie, with Sam Montembeault leaving in the middle of the second period because a lower-body injury.
Alexandre Carrier, Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Alex Newhook also scored for Montreal.
“We knew we had to turn it up to another level,” 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. This is probably the best feeling.”
Montembeault stopped 11 of 13 shots, and Jakub Dobes made seven saves on eight shots in relief in his NHL debut.
“You guys cannot imagine how a person feels,” Dobes said. “I was afraid, I was excited, I was emotional. I was crying at the end. I was a mess.”
Alex Ovechkin, Connor McMichael, Jakob Chychrun scored for Washington, with Ovechkin tying it at 3 at 2:29 of the third period.
Thompson stopped 30 of 35 shots. Charlie Lindgren made four saves in five shots.
At the end of the second period, a heated fight between Capitals forward Tom Wilson and Montreal’s Josh Anderson spilled into Washington’s bench.
After some pushing and shoving between Montreal defenseman Arber Xhekaj and Wilson with both benches empty, Anderson got involved and fell backward into the Capitals’ bench, which had the door open.
Wilson followed Anderson in and charged through a linesman toward the Canadiens winger while other Montreal and Washington players exchanged blows on the ice.
“I was on my way to walk across the ice,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said. “Then 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.”
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The Associated Press