Capitals score eight in win against Canadiens, close in on playoff berth

MONTREAL -- Alex Ovechkin scored his 47th goal, and the Washington Capitals defeated the Montreal Canadiens 8-4 at Bell Centre on Saturday.

Ovechkin scored his 777th goal on a shot over Sam Montembeault's glove at 15:36 of the second period to put the Capitals up 4-2. The Washington captain moved within three goals of his ninth 50-goal season, which would tie Mike Bossy and Wayne Gretzky for the most in NHL history.
"We don't ever talk about things like that inside the room, but everybody knows exactly where he's at," Capitals coach Peter Laviolette said. "They know what he gives every night as a player for our team and they're excited for him when he does good things and he moves past somebody or sets a record for something.
"Our guys are genuinely happy that he's had such a career that he's in this position later in his career where he's actually knocking some things down, and our guys get excited for that."

Anthony Mantha had two goals and two assists, and Dmitry Orlov had a goal and three assists for Washington (42-23-10), which has won five of six. Vitek Vanecek made 28 saves.
The Capitals hold the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference, 15 points ahead of the New York Islanders.
Ryan Poehling scored twice for Montreal (20-45-11), which has lost five in a row. Montembeault made 33 saves after Carey Price made his season debut in a 3-0 loss against the New York Islanders on Friday.
"It was a hard game for Sam, we didn't make it easy on him," Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. "There were a lot of bounces that made it hard for him but I thought it was too advanced in the game to even consider it. I know it's a tough thing for a goaltender to stay in there for eight goals but I didn't want to pull Sam."
Nic Dowd put the Capitals up 1-0 at 12:23 of the first period with a behind-the-back deflection.
Jake Evans tied it 1-1 at 1:56 of the second period on a slap shot over Vanecek's right arm off a no-look backhand pass from Christian Dvorak.
Mantha scored twice in 34 seconds during a 4-on-4. He made it 2-1 at 8:03 before increasing the lead to 3-1 when he shot under Montembeault's glove on a breakaway at 8:37.
"Obviously, there's plays to be made and on both my goals Lars (Eller) just chipped the puck and battled to get the puck to me and gave me basically two breakaways," Mantha said. "So for me it was just to shoot the puck, and the first one just trickled and I got a piece of it, and the second one I just beat him clear. So it's a lot of open ice and it's awesome to play 4-on-4."

Poehling drew Montreal to within one twice. He made it 3-2 at 8:51, the third goal at 4-on-4 in 48 seconds.
After Ovechkin's goal put Washington ahead 4-2, Poehling cut the lead again to 4-3 at 2:22 of the third period.
Garnet Hathaway made it 5-3 at 3:08, Orlov increased the lead to 6-3 at 4:30, and Justin Schultz put the Capitals up 7-3 with a power-play goal at 9:50.
Nick Suzuki scored his 20th goal at 14:53 to draw Montreal within 7-4. T.J. Oshie scored Washington's second power-play goal at 16:35 for the 8-4 final.
"We play fast and it's a fun system to play but you've got to be honest about it," Poehling said. "You've got to play hard defensively, and when we do that and you see it out there and we're on top of guys, it's hard to play against and we end up with the puck a lot more. I mean, even against the Islanders you saw that a bunch and tonight in spurts too.
"So I think that's just the things you have to do, and if you can do that right now and just kind of make that part of your game, I think the game comes a lot easier."
NOTES: Ovechkin is one from tying Teemu Selanne (48 in 2006-07 at age 36) for the most goals in an NHL season by a player age 36 or older. It was the first time Washington scored seven goals or more against Montreal in 181 games between the teams including the Stanley Cup Playoffs. … Evgeny Kuznetsov set up Oshie's goal to reach 50 assists for the fourth time, second in Capitals istory behind only Nicklas Backstrom, who has nine 50-assist seasons. … Mantha's goals were the fastest two goals by a Capitals player since Oct. 4, 2018, when Oshie scored twice in 21 seconds in a 7-6 loss in overtime at the Pittsburgh Penguins. … It was Orlov's first four-point game, and the first by a visiting team's defenseman in Montreal since Pittsburgh's Kris Letang had four assists against the Canadiens on March 2, 2013.