The Montreal Canadiens were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs by the Washington Capitals with a 4-1 loss in Game 5 of the best-of-7 Eastern Conference First Round at Capital One Arena in Washington on Wednesday.
Montreal lost all three of its road games in the series.
The Canadiens (40-31-11) qualified for the playoffs as the second wild card from the Eastern Conference. It was their first postseason appearance since losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games in the 2021 Stanley Cup Final.
The skinny
Potential unrestricted free agents: Christian Dvorak, F; Joel Armia, F; Michael Pezzetta, F; Alex Barre-Boulet, F; David Savard, D
Potential restricted free agents: Emil Heineman, F; Rafael Harvey-Pinard, F; Jayden Struble, D; Jakub Dobes, G; Cayden Primeau, G
Potential 2024 Draft picks: 12
Here are five reasons the Canadiens were eliminated:
1. Lack of depth scoring
The Canadiens' top line of Cole Caufield (three goals), Nick Suzuki (two) and Juraj Slafkovsky (two) accounted for seven of their 12 goals in the series. Christian Dvorak (two), Alex Newhook (one) and Emil Heineman (one) were Montreal's only other forwards to score a goal. Brendan Gallagher, who scored 21 goals during the regular season, Patrik Laine (20 goals; did not play last three games because of an upper-body injury), and Josh Anderson (15 goals) were among those held without a playoff goal.
The biggest difference was in 5-on-5 play. Montreal managed just three 5-on-5 goals in its four losses, one each from Suzuki, Dvorak and Heineman.
The series was closer than it seemed. Without empty-net goals in Games 2 and 4, and each of Montreal's first three losses was by one goal. So getting some scoring from elsewhere could have made a difference.
The Capitals got goals from throughout their lineup, led by Alex Ovechkin with four. Connor McMichael and Brandon Duhaime scored three apiece, and Tom Wilson, Dylan Strome and Jakob Chychrun each scored two.
2. Not enough danger
The Capitals owned the net-front area offensively and defensively, as evidenced by their 40-24 advantage in high-danger shots on goal, according to NHL EDGE Advanced Stats. The Canadiens had the fewest high-danger shots on goal of the 16 playoff teams, struggling to get shots from that area throughout the series, other than in their 6-3 win in Game 3, when they had a 7-2 advantage and scored three of their six goals from high-danger shots on goal.
Montreal's failure to generate more high-danger shots was costly because Washington goalie Logan Thompson was nearly unbeatable on mid-range shots on goal, stopping 39 of 40 during the series.
3. Inexperienced defense
Montreal had four defensemen make their NHL playoff debuts in the series: Lane Hutson, Kaiden Guhle, Jayden Struble and Arber Xhekaj. Although Hutson created offense, leading the Canadiens with five points (all assists) during the series, he, along with the rest of the defensemen, had trouble at times handling the Capitals' forechecking pressure and physicality, leading to turnovers, sustained pressure in the defensive zone and goals against.
4. Montembeault's injury
Although Montreal lost the first two games, goalie Sam Montembeault played well enough to keep the Canadiens within striking distance to mount third-period comeback attempts, stopping 58 of 63 shots for a 2.49 goals-against average and .921 save percentage. When Montembeault was injured during the second period of Game 3, though, that forced 23-year-old rookie Jakub Dobes into action.
Dobes wasn't tested much (one goal on eight shots) after replacing Montembeault in Game 3 before appearing tentative at times in allowing three goals on 24 shots in his first NHL playoff start in a 5-2 loss in Game 4. Dobes allowed two goals on the first four shots in Game 5 before recovering to stop 23 of the Capitals' final 24, but the Canadiens were unable to overcome the early damage.
5. Missed opportunities
The Canadiens lost to a deeper team, but they had some chances to make it a different series. After erasing a 2-0 third-period deficit in Game 1, they couldn't finish the job and lost 3-2 on Ovechkin's goal 2:26 into overtime, wasting an opportunity to steal an early series lead.
Montreal led 2-1 after two periods in Game 4 and appeared on its way to tying the series 2-2 before allowing four goals in the third period, including Andrew Mangiapane’s game-winner with 3:37 remaining, to lose 5-2. The Canadiens started strong in Game 5 but couldn't turn that into an early lead while building an 8-1 advantage in shots on goal. Ovechkin's power-play goal at 9:12 of the first period turned the tide in the Capitals’ favor.
