Game 11: 12-5-3-2 (PTS-W-L-OT)
Thursday November 1, 2018 Washington Capitals @ Montreal Canadiens
Place: Bell Centre
Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
TV: NBCSWA, TSN2, RDS
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, Capitals Radio 24/7
NHL.COM for Live Box Score
Last Game: Sat October 27, Capitals Won 4-3 against Flames
Next Game: Sat November 3, 7:00pm ET Stars @ Capitals
8-Ovechkin 92-Kuznetsov 13-Vrana
65-Burakovsky 19-Bäckström 77-Oshie
18-Stephenson 20-Eller 10-Connolly
23-Jaskin 26-Dowd 25-Smith-Pelly
6-Kempny 74-Carlson
9-Orlov 2-Niskanen
29-Djoos 22-Bowey
70-Holtby (starter)
1-Copley
-- SCRATCH --
79-Walker
44-Orpik [lower-body injury]
72-Boyd (inactive)
63-Gersich (inactive)
-- INJURED RESERVE --
-- SUSPENDED --
43-Wilson (9 games left??)
-- 1st Powerplay Unit --
77-Oshie 19-Bäckström 92-Kuznetsov
8-Ovechkin 74-Carlson
-- 2nd Powerplay Unit --
13-Vrana 10-Connolly 20-Eller
2-Niskanen 9-Orlov
Referees: Pierre Lambert (#37), Brad Watson (#23)
Linesmen: Brian Murphy (#93), Mark Shewchyk (#92)
1st Period02:28 Habs GOAL Kotkaniemi, assist Armia 1-0 MTL
06:16 GOAL 20-Eller, assists 2-Niskanen & 18-Stephenson 1-1 TIE
2nd Period00:32 Habs GOAL Gallagher, assist Tatar 2-1 MTL
03:06 Habs GOAL Gallagher, assists Tatar & Danault 3-1 MTL
06:49 GOAL 8-Ovechkin, assists 92-Kuznetsov & 13-Vrana 3-2 MTL
07:59 GOAL 20-Eller, assists 9-Orlov & 2-Niskanen 3-3 TIE
12:53 GOAL 8-Ovechkin, assists 9-Orlov & 2-niskanen 4-3 WSH
3rd Period16:56 Habs GOAL Kotkaniemi, assists Lehkonen & mete 4-4 TIE
19:38 Habs GOAL Domi, assist Reilly 5-4 MTL
19:40 Habs GOAL Armia, assist Danault 6-4 MTL
FINAL: 6-4 MTLBy Isabelle Khurshudyan November 1 at 1:15 PM
Braden Holtby is always calm, cool and collected ... unless you swipe a puck from a kidPuck-snatching adults are about the only thing that gets Braden Holtby fired up. (Nick Wass/Associated Press)
MONTREAL — Not much rattles zen Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby, but watching a puck he tossed over the glass and intended for a kid swiped by an adult has infuriated him in recent pregame warmups. Twice in the past three weeks, Holtby has pointed to a young fan standing at the glass and then lofted a puck over only to have a taller adult nearby catch the disc and keep it for himself. The clips of Holtby’s exasperated body language after have gone viral.
“I guess everything is caught on film now,” he said. “It frustrates me. I might have been raised a different way, I guess. You just don’t do that.”
You sir, @Holts170, are a gem. pic.twitter.com/poNrn0O6ao
— NHL (@NHL) October 11, 2018
Holtby isn’t the only Capitals player who has had to deal with a puck-snatching adult. Last season, forward Brett Connolly meant for a puck to land in the hands of a young girl, but a man standing behind her thwarted two of Connolly’s tries and gave it to boys beside her. Connolly’s third attempt was finally successful.
When Holtby watched another puck get stolen away from his intended target before Washington’s game in Vancouver last week, he glared at the thief.
why? pic.twitter.com/6F8nhTTOXx
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 23, 2018
“I thought he was kind of kidding around, but I think the guy behind him was even more mad than I was,” Holtby said.
Outside of his adventures in warmups, Holtby’s had a rough statistical start to the season. He’s 4-2-1, but he has an .888 save percentage with a 3.41 goals-against average. As a goaltender who enjoys rhythm and playing as often as possible, he said the spread-out schedule in October was “strange," and it might have hurt him. The Capitals played 10 games in October, and they’ll have 15 games in November.
“We’ve given up some quality chances against and we just have to, within our system, get a little bit more detailed, a little bit more structured, a little harder in some tough areas,” Coach Todd Reirden said. “Braden’s been outstanding for us for years, and for him, we have to do a better job in front of him. I look forward to seeing him continue to progress here, especially with playing games every other night that he can get into a bit of a routine here.”
Orpik could practice Friday
Defenseman Brooks Orpik will miss Thursday night’s game in Montreal because of an undisclosed “lower-body” injury, but Reirden said it’s possible Orpik will be back on the ice Friday. The 38-year-old hasn’t practiced with his teammates since Washington returned from its Western Canada road trip on Sunday.
“He may practice tomorrow,” Reirden said. “He’s not skating today, but we’ll see how he does with treatment and stuff the rest of today and whether he’s able to join us for practice or not tomorrow.”
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