Capitals Crumble Against Canadians

Todd Warriner scored a goal and assisted on another on Day 40, but it wasn't enough as the Washington Capitals fell two games below .500 in a 5-3 loss to the Montreal Canadiens. Washington is 8-10-3, good for ninth in the Wales Conference.

Montreal jumped out to a 2-0 lead with goals just 29 seconds apart. Jamieson scored first from Hannan and Zherdev at 1:29, before Wallin converted from Zherdev and Kozlov at 1:58. The Capitals answered with two goals to tie the game before intermission. Frantisek Lukes started the rally with a power play tally from Todd Warriner and Mark Eaton at 5:04, and Warriner scored one of his own from Rob Blake and Cory Sarich at 12:21.

Washington took the lead in the first third of the middle stanza on Jonathan Cheechoo's sixth of the season. Zigmund Palffy and Bake setup the goal. The Canadians tied the game 4:30 later when Jamieson netted on the power play from Stuart and Johnsson. Andrew Ference was in the box for roughing at the time of the goal.

The Canadians took control of the game in the final period. Kozlov scored the eventual game-winner from Hannan and Zherdev at 8:53, and Svitov added an insurance marker at 18:14.

Kevin Weekes made 23 saves in the loss and fell to 4-4. Brent Johnson stopped 26 shots to earn the win.

The Capitals visit Philadelphia on Day 41.