Alex Ovechkin didn't have a shot on goal. Not a single one. The
NHL's best scoring machine got upstaged by a player who, in the
spirit of the week's bit of trash-talking, did his best
impersonation of Jaromir Jagr.
On a night in which the two-time reigning MVP was
neutralized, Tomas Plekanec was the perfect spoil sport for the
Montreal Canadiens, scoring 13:19 into overtime as the Eastern
Conference's No. 8 seed beat the top-seeded Washington Capitals
3-2.
It was Plekanec who traded gibes this week with Washington
goalie Jose Theodore.
Plekanec basically said that Theodore was no Martin Brodeur
or Ryan Miller, and Theodore shot back that Plekanec wasn't exactly
Jagr. Just to add to the fun, Plekanec's jersey number on the
greaseboard in the Canadiens' locker room was listed as Jagr's 68
— instead of Plekanec's 14.
"It was the first day that quote came out ... I didn't like
it, but we have had a good laugh about it the next day," Plekanec
said. "I never said anything bad about their goaltending. I said
they had really good goalies and they proved it."
Theodore also laughed off the back-and-forth between the two,
as well as the irony that he gave up the deciding goal to the
player he needled.
"It was just to set up the mood for the playoffs," Theodore
said. "Tomas is a great player."
Plekanec silenced the sellout crowd by taking the puck near
the red line, skating into the offensive zone and scoring on a
drive from high in the slot that beat Theodore to the stick side,
making Montreal the latest among several lower-seeded teams to pull
a Game 1 upset in the NHL playoffs this week.
Jagr would have been proud.
"There was a couple of jokes thrown at him after the game,
I'm not going to lie to you," said Mike Cammalleri, who scored in
the first period for the Canadiens.
But the most amazing development was the blank sheet from
Ovechkin, who scored 50 goals in the regular season and took an
NHL-high 368 shots.
Ovechkin said Thursday morning he might be "a little bit
nervous and a little bit shaky" in his third go-round in the
playoffs, and maybe that caused him and his teammates to use up all
their energy in the first period — because the Capitals
controlled the flow of play early, then appeared to tire as the
game wore on.
"He didn't play good," Washington coach Bruce Boudreau said.
"They gapped up real well on him, but I don't think Alex played
very well. ... Our best players weren't our best players tonight,
and their best players were."
It didn't help that Ovechkin was shadowed most everywhere he
went by defenseman Jaroslav Spacek, or that he had five shot
attempts blocked. The Capitals played at their preferred
up-and-down pace for a little more than a period — and the
Canadians controlled the rest of the game.
"Right now I'm mad, and right now we're disappointed, but
tomorrow's a new day," said Ovechkin, who was held without a shot
only once in the regular season. "They just don't give us the room.
They put two guys in front of me ... We're going to watch the game
and make some changes."
Game 2 is Saturday night in Washington.
The Capitals had their best season in franchise history and
won the Presidents' Trophy for the first time, while the Canadiens
didn't secure a playoff berth until the next-to-last day.
Washington had 313 goals, the most by a team since 1995-96. It also
led the NHL with 213 5-on-5 goals, while Montreal was last with
132.
Sure enough, the Capitals were outshooting the Canadiens 7-0
after 6 minutes, and Ovechkin was throwing himself about the ice.
But the Canadiens' power play was solid — ranking
second only behind the Capitals' — and it paid off after
Nicklas Backstrom took an unwise retaliation penalty for
cross-checking Spacek midway through the first period.
Twenty-five seconds later, Cammalleri took Andrei Markov's
pass and beat Theodore stick side with a drive from the right
circle.
The Capitals tied it later in the period on Joe Corvo's
wrister from the blue line. Washington outshot the Canadiens 19-7
in the first 20 minutes.
The flow of play was more to the Canadiens' liking in the
second, but the visitors couldn't capitalize. Backstrom, who spent
much of the last few days in bed with an illness, gave the Capitals
the lead 47 seconds into the third period, but Montreal tied it
again when Scott Gomez got behind defenseman Mike Green to tap in
Brian Gionta's pass with about 12 1/2 minutes left in regulation.
"In the second period they pushed pretty hard, and I think we
let them in the game a little bit," Backstrom said. "And that's
something we can't do."
