Canadiens hold Ovechkin without a shot in OT win
WASHINGTON — Alex Ovechkin removed his helmet during a couple of breaks between late-game shifts and wiped his scraggly, sweat-matted hair with a white towel.
All in all, the Montreal Canadiens made it a tough, exhausting night for Ovechkin, the Washington Capitals' captain and the NHL's two-time reigning MVP. The guy scored 50 goals this season, and has led the league in shots every season of his career, yet Montreal held him without a single attempt on net.
That strong defensive effort, and Tomas Plekanec's goal 13:19 into overtime, helped the eighth-seeded Canadiens beat Ovechkin's top-seeded Capitals 3-2 Thursday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series, part of a trend of early surprises in the first two days of the playoffs.
"Right now I'm mad, and right now we're disappointed," Ovechkin said, "but tomorrow's a new day."
Actually, he'll have to wait until Saturday night to get things going in the right direction. That's when Game 2 will be played in Washington.
"We're going to watch the game and make some changes," the Russian left wing said after his worst offensive performance in five seasons with the Capitals.
Only three times before in 417 regular-season and playoff games had Ovechkin failed to record an official shot, but at least he managed to produce an assist on each of those other occasions.
Not on this night, when he was shadowed by Canadiens defenseman Jaroslav Spacek and hounded constantly by others. Montreal blocked five shots by Ovechkin.
"We gave him no space, no time to shoot," said Montreal goalie Jaroslav Halak, who made 45 saves. "Even when he had some chances, guys kept their sticks close to him, so he had no chance to shoot. We did a great job."
Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau's take was a tad different.
"He didn't play good," said Boudreau, who usually is pretty protective of his best player. "They gapped up real well on him, but I don't think Alex played very well."
Asked why, Boudreau replied: "I can't put my finger on it right now. ... They took him away pretty good, but I just didn't think he was very good tonight."
Ovechkin acknowledged Thursday morning he might be "a little bit nervous and a little bit shaky" in his third trip to the playoffs. Perhaps that mindset caused him and some teammates to expend too much energy in the first period, when the Capitals controlled play and outshot the Canadiens 19-7.
Sabres 2, Bruins 1At Buffalo, N.Y., Ryan Miller made 38 saves, including 23 in the second period, and Craig Rivet scored the go-ahead goal with slap shot from the right circle with 6 minutes left in the second period in Buffalo's playoff-opening victory over Boston.Mark Recchi scored for the Bruins, who finished the regular season on a 8-3-1 roll to finish sixth in the Eastern Conference.
Canucks 3, Kings 2At Vancouver, British Columbia, Mikael Samuelsson scored his second goal 8:52 into overtime for Vancouver in Game 1 of the first-round Western Conference series.
