!["We Stayed With It': Maple Leafs Halt Senators' Comeback Bid To Take 2-0 Series Lead](https://getonsports.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1fdd98ff-51b7-4c08-9243-697d6c3084d7-300x200.jpeg ""We Stayed With It': Maple Leafs Halt Senators' Comeback Bid To Take 2-0 Series Lead")
The Montreal Canadiens need more than a tough guy on defense after being dominated in most of Game 1 against the Washington Capitals on Monday.
The Capitals are better suited to playing playoff-style hockey against the inexperienced Habs, but that didn’t prevent Montreal from rallying late in the third and giving Washington a scare in the 3-2 Capitals’ overtime victory at Capital One Arena.
Until resorting to desperation hockey in the latter half of the third period, Washington ran roughshod over the Canadiens, focusing on being physically imposing on Montreal’s smaller skilled players, such as rookie defenseman Lane Hutson and sniper Cole Caufield.
This tactic worked early in the game, as Capitals blueliner Alexander Alexeyev cross-checked Brendan Gallagher to the face, Alex Ovechkin led his club with seven hits and Capitals rookie Ryan Leonard’s face-washing of Hutson along the boards led to a Kaiden Guhle penalty and Ovechkin’s opening power-play goal.
Short of putting Arber Xhekaj in the lineup for Game 2 or being able to clone Anderson and Gallagher, the Canadiens are not capable of matching up to the Capitals’ peskiness and physicality in this series.
Here is the cross-check by Alexeyev right to the race of Gallagher, in plain view. No penalty called. pic.twitter.com/AKSJ97cVg2
— NHL Review (@nhl_review) April 21, 2025
“(It was) a start that we knew, we were probably going have to weather the storm and feel what that feels like, the pressure (and) the physicality of the game.” Canadiens coach Martin St-Louis told reporters. “We got better as the game went on, I thought it was a pretty good first game, but unfortunately, you don’t win.”
The Capitals outhit Montreal 42-33 in the contest. Anderson’s shot at Tom Wilson during a line change was one of the few responses that the Habs showed, and the game only remained close because of the goaltending of Samuel Montembeault.
The Canadiens were also caught with rookie Ivan Demidov and right winger Patrik Laine out against Washington’s top line on a defensive zone faceoff, which led to Ovechkin’s game-winner less than three minutes into overtime.
St-Louis said after the game that he expects his young club to be better prepared for Game 2 on Wednesday, but there was no indication whether the Habs will make any lineup changes, like inserting Xhekaj into the lineup.
Xhekaj played only one game in the last three weeks of the regular season, with St-Louis opting to go with Jayden Struble down the stretch.
The 24-year-old ranks second on the Canadiens in hits, with 180 in 70 games. Other than that, he has a goal, six assists and 63 blocked shots while averaging 14:37 of ice time.
If the onslaught continues on Wednesday, the Canadiens may consider bringing him in when they return to the Bell Centre for Game 3 on Friday. But that move might not lead to much if the rest of the team can’t withstand the Capitals’ physicality and scoring power.
The X-factor is Montembeault, who stopped 29 of 32 shots in Game 1. If he channels 2010 Jaroslav Halak, who had a .923 save percentage in 18 playoff games, then Montreal will keep the series close.
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!["We Stayed With It': Maple Leafs Halt Senators' Comeback Bid To Take 2-0 Series Lead](https://getonsports.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1fdd98ff-51b7-4c08-9243-697d6c3084d7-450x300.jpeg ""We Stayed With It': Maple Leafs Halt Senators' Comeback Bid To Take 2-0 Series Lead")
