Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals are heating up as they travel north to visit the struggling Montreal Canadiens on Thursday in a rematch of last season’s first-round series.
Washington, then the top seed in the Metropolitan Division, eliminated the wild-card Canadiens in five games last spring.
Montreal, which opened this season with nine wins in 12 games, has dropped four straight games (0-3-1) and six of its last seven overall (1-3-3).
The Capitals had lost eight of 10 games before winning their second consecutive contest with a 7-4 victory over the visiting Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night.
Rookie Ryan Leonard scored twice for his first multi-goal game in the NHL, Tom Wilson tallied twice into an empty net and Ovechkin scored in his third straight game for the Capitals.
“A game like this is huge for a lot of guys to get their confidence back,” said goaltender Logan Thompson, who made 26 saves. “… I think that’s definitely going to help the guys and we can build off that going to Montreal.”
Connor McMichael and defenseman John Carlson each notched three assists for Washington.
The Capitals played without center Nic Dowd, who was a late scratch with an upper-body injury. He will not travel to Montreal.
Leonard, playing his first full season after being the team’s top pick (eighth overall) in the 2023 NHL Draft, was especially impressive on his second goal. He used his body to shield Edmonton defenseman Evan Bouchard before beating Stuart Skinner with a backhander to make the score 4-2.
“The last few games have been his best games of the season thus far,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said of Leonard. “You can see he’s just getting way more comfortable, way more confident.”
Charlie Lindgren snapped a personal four-game slide with a 30-save effort in a 2-1 win against the Los Angeles Kings on Monday. He is expected to make the start against Montreal, his first NHL team. He is 3-1-0 with a 2.51 goals-against-average and .899 save percentage in five career games versus the Canadiens.
Montreal has been idle since a 4-3 shootout loss at the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday night.
Defenseman Lane Hutson collected a goal and an assist for the Canadiens, who rallied from a two-goal deficit in the third-period.
“The second half of the game I thought we really controlled it, especially in the third,” Montreal captain Nick Suzuki said. “We got two goals and had our chances in overtime. It feels tough to lose that one. I thought we gave ourselves a really good chance to win.”
The Canadiens have been outscored 18-6 in non-shootout goals over their past four games, although the past two have been one-goal defeats. Against the Blue Jackets, Josh Anderson’s goal at 8:28 of the third period pulled the Canadiens within 3-2 and Hutson tied it during 6-on-5 play.
“It’s unfortunate we didn’t get the two points, but we’re headed in the right direction,” Anderson said. “I feel it could have gone either way in that game.”
Goalie Sam Montembeault is expected to make the start for Montreal. He is 2-3-0 with a 3.49 GAA and .893 save percentage in six career games versus Washington.
