The Montreal Canadiens have officially announced that they have hired a retired center to assist with a pressing issue today.
The Montreal Canadiens are headed for another postseason absence after missing the previous three. The Canadiens are tied with the Buffalo Sabres for dead-last place in the Atlantic Division after a three-game losing skid has dropped them to 4-7-1 for the 2024–25 season. Numerous problems, especially faceoffs, are to blame for the Canadiens’ difficulties. The NHL’s 25th-place Martin St. Louis squad has only won 47.6 percent of its faceoffs this season. Since winning faceoffs result in instant puck control, Montreal needs to work on strengthening its middle line. When a former NHL faceoff master attended practice on Monday, the coaching staff took the first move toward solving the problem. On Monday morning, Stu Cowan of The Montreal Gazette wrote, “Canadiens centermen are working with former NHLer Marc Bureau on faceoffs before practice this morning.”
Let’s take a closer look at the Washington Capitals’ dramatic victory over the Montreal Canadiens last Halloween night, which saw them win 6-3 while preserving the ice at Capital One Arena.
Tom Wilson ended the man advantage’s six-game skid with a power play goal in the victory. Once more, the Caps received contributions from players at all positions, and Charlie Lindgren would record 13 stops.
Brandon Duhaime, Jakub Vrana, Connor McMichael, and Aliaksei Protas also scored goals for the Caps. The second period was when the eruption occurred. The house would then collapse when Alex Ovechkin scored.
Against Cayden Primeau, the 176th goalkeeper Ovechkin has scored on in his career, Ovechkin scored his first goal of his career. According to Caps PR, only Jaromir Jagr and Patrick Marleau (177) have scored on more goalies in NHL history.
At Capital One Arena, the Caps have won five in a row, their longest winning run at home since 2019. Alex Ovechkin scored three points in the victory, marking his 133rd three-point performance in his career. Only Sidney Crosby (180) has more than any other active player. Ovi recorded his 128th career multi-assist game as well.
With three goals in his previous two games, Ovechkin has been on fire. He now needs 37 goals to overtake Wayne Gretzky as the NHL’s all-time top scorer.
In contrast, Protas scored his third goal of the year and finished with eight points from nine games this season, including three goals and five assists. In addition to scoring his fifth goal of the season, McMichael has scored five goals and provided four assists in his previous seven games, totaling nine points.
This is the second time this season that the Caps have scored two goals inside a minute of one another, with Duhaime and Vrana’s goals in the middle stanza separated by 54 seconds. Protas and Jakob Chychrun’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights on October 15 was the other.
Tom Wilson leads the Caps with six goals in his past nine games, which is even better stats. For the fourth time this season, Ovechkin provided an assist on the goal. Ovechkin has 68 points, 38 goals, and 30 assists in 59 games versus Montreal in his career. He leads all current players with 38 goals and 68 points versus the Habs.
Grade A+: This Halloween night, there will be no tricks. Six goals are just rewards for everyone. Naturally, an Ovi goal to cap off the evening was the cherry on top.
