2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs – Eastern Conference QFs
Game 4: Montreal Canadiens (WC2) vs. Washington Capitals (M1)
WSH leads 2-1
Start time: **6:30 PM EDT / 3:30 PM PDT**
In Canada: CBC, Sportsnet (English), TVA Sports (French)
In the United States: TBS, truTV
In the Capitals region: Monumental Sports Network
Streaming: Max, Sportsnet+
Two days after the Montreal Canadiens and Washington Capitals contested the third game of their series, a fight on the Capitals’ bench between Josh Anderson and Tom Wilson is still the talk of the NHL. That situation has been resolved with fines for both players, but that’s going to do little to calm things down for the second game in Montreal this evening.
Less is known about the goalie situation for this series. Logan Thompson seemed to sustain a serious knee injury when top Capitals scorer Dylan Strome ran over him on a backcheck, yet he was at Capitals practice in full gear this morning and might be good to go. Samuel Montembeault’s apparent hamstring strain looked like a less serious ailment, and he continued to play for a few shifts before leaving the crease. It takes just a few days to recover from a minor strain, but with it being such an important muscle for a goaltender’s mobility, Montembeault could miss this game, and Cayden Primeau is making his way to the Bell Centre to potentially serve as Jakub Dobeš’s backup.
Dobeš got his feet wet with an appearance in Game 3, so he will know what to expect from the intense series. His overall numbers weren’t strong this season, but after beginning his NHL career with five consecutive wins, the Canadiens claimed at least a point in four of his final six starts of the regular season, and he also got credit for the win on Friday night for his first playoff victory.
| Canadiens | Statistics | Capitals |
|---|---|---|
| 50.2% | Expected-goal share | 49.8% |
| 3.0 | Goals per game | 3.0 |
| 3.0 | Goals against per game | 3.0 |
| 33.3% | PP% | 20.0% |
| 80.0% | PK% | 66.7% |
| Christian Dvorak (2) | Most goals | Alexander Ovechkin (3) |
| Lane Hutson (3) | Most assists | Dylan Strome (4) |
| Cole Caufield (3) | Most points | Dylan Strome (5) |
The Canadiens players aren’t really concerned about which goalie is in Washington’s net. They scored five goals on Thompson in a dominant performance on home ice in Game 3. With that outing, the Canadiens evened up the goals scored in the series at nine apiece, and they were getting chances from every line. Martin St-Louis has found a nice balance with his deployment, led by the top line which has looked uncontainable in the series so far, Christian Dvorak’s line with Anderson and Brendan Gallagher that is backing it up well, and now a trio that features Alex Newhook, Jake Evans, and Ivan Demidov that scored a goal and finished with an expected-goal share of 71% in Game 3.
Montreal got the benefit from a couple of lineup chances last game, and Washington could have one today as well. Aliaksei Protas has been getting close to a return for several days now, and that series debut could come today. Protas notched 30 goals and added 36 assists in a breakout fourth season with the Capitals, and would shift the offensive depth back in Washington’s favour should be play.
Whether Protas plays or not, the Canadiens do need to clean up some of their defensive play. With the man-to-man system they play, they have been missing some assignments that leave Capitals players open for quality chances. Washington leads the five-on-five high-danger-scoring-chance battle 34-28 and has six goals from the home-plate area right around the crease to Montreal’s two. Allowing the Capitals to get their shots from close range is going to make it difficult to pick up the win with an untested rookie in the net.
