The Montreal Canadian season ended on WaShington on Wednesday on Wednesday. The men of Martin St-Louis suffered the elimination in five games in the first round of the series following a final defeat of 4-1 against the capital.
The tricolor has foiled the forecasts by qualifying for the series for the first time since 2021, but the adventure in playoffs stopped quickly.
A few minutes after the elimination of his troop, head coach Martin St-Louis had barely digested the defeat that his eternal optimism began to come out a little.
The most difficult thing is the discomfort you feel because it’s over, but nothing is compared to what is coming, said St-Louis. I think the experience we have had will help us.
What we feel is normal, but it is encouraging knowing what is coming
he added.
The capital, which ended the season with 20 more points in the standings than the Canadian, abused their rivals with physical game. They also often had the advantage of five against five.
The lack of contribution to the attack on support players also undermined the chances of the Habs in the series.
The matches were tight, but the first two where we did not start in time hurt us
said defender Alexandre Carrier, in uniform after having paid the price for a tough defeat of Tom Wilson late in the fourth game on Sunday.
Maybe also the chances of five against five
added Carrier, looking for reasons to explain the result of the series.
The experience should nevertheless be enriching for the young nucleus of CH. It will also be necessary to see what impact this passage in series will have on the plans of the management this summer, in order to ensure that the reconstruction continues to progress.
We will be more comfortable when we are back in series, said captain Nick Suzuki. Each of us will have to find another level. I think we can remember a lot from this experience and be even better next season.
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Alexander Ovechkin
Photo : imagn images via reuters connect / Geoff Burke
Ovechkin rings the load
Alexander Ovechkin scored his fourth goal of the series, Logan Thompson made 28 stops and the capital joined the Hurricanes from Caroline to the Tour of the Stanley Cup series.
Tom Wilson has had a success and help, while Jakob Chychrun and Brandon Duhaime, in a deserted net, also touched the target for Washington. Dylan Strome collected two passes.
The series was difficult, and I am well placed to find out, said Wilson. They were aggressive towards me and played in a physical way, but it was an exciting series. We will remember the two games in Montreal all our lives.
[Ovechkin] led the charge for us in the first two games by scoring goals and applying defeat. We followed his example. But we have gained a lot of respect for our opponents. They are doomed to a promising future
he continued.
Emil Heineman scored in the third period for the Canadian. Jakob Dobes pushed 24 throws.
This is not the expected result, but I believe that we have a lot of hockey of the series that awaits us in the future. We will be back
said Dobes.
Injured in the third match in the series, goalkeeper Samuel Montembeault did not accompany his teammates to Washington.
Stronger Aliaksei Protas was back to the game for the capital, playing a first match since April 4, when he had been cut to the left foot. Taylor Radady has been left out.
Wednesday’s match also marked the end of defender David Savard’s career. He had announced before the start of the series that he would hang his skates at the end of the Canadian’s eliminatory course. Obviously, we wanted to win for him, underlined Carrier. The career he had. The player he was. The teammate he was. He was so appreciated in the locker room. The impact he had in the locker room on our young players during his four seasons here is all in his honor.
Short of resources
Capitals were the first to threaten, but the Canadian managed to reverse the steam.
Thompson stopped a dangerous low shot from Nick Suzuki. The Canadian captain was then unable to complete a game of digital advantage.
A punishment at Juraj Slafkovsky slowed down the Canadian’s momentum. Capitals have opened the brand in digital advantage halfway through the initial period. Ovechkin surprised Dobes using a shot on reception immediately after Strome won a game in Montreal territory against Christian Dvorak.
Capitals quickly dug the gap. Cole Caufield missed its cover against Chychrun, which took advantage of a beautiful pass from Pierre-Luc Dubois to thwart Dobes.
The porter kept the Canadian in the blow with some spectacular stops, including one of the most beautiful in the Canadian season with the Mitaire at the expense of Wilson.
The Czech continued to shine after the first intermission. Thompson replied with beautiful stops against Brendan Gallagher and Kaiden Guhle.
Capitals brought a hard blow to the Canadian by adding a third goal with 3 min 1 s to sell in the second twenty during a digital advantage. Wilson found the bottom of the net during a scrum after another spectacular Dobes stop against John Carlson.
Despite everything, Heineman relaunched the Canadian after 2:40 in the third period, deflecting a shot from Joel Armia behind Thompson.
The Capital Guardian was, however, intractable thereafter, despite some good last salvas of the Canadian. Thompson added an exclamation mark at the end of the match by capturing a shot on the point at close range of Suzuki with less than two minutes to play.
Duhaime launched the celebrations by marking in a deserted net.
