Frank scores twice in 3rd, Capitals complete comeback against Canadiens in OT

WASHINGTON -- Ethen Frank tied it with two goals in the third period, Connor McMichael scored with 39 seconds remaining in overtime and the Washington Capitals rallied for a 3-2 win against the Montreal Canadiens at Capital One Arena on Tuesday.

Montreal goaltender Sam Montembeault made the initial save on Dylan Strome’s shot, but McMichael put the rebound home by hooking it around the goalie's pad and in from the right post.

“Just kind of drove the net there,” McMichael said. “[Rasmus Sandin] made a [great] play to ‘Stromer,’ and I just saw the goalie kind of fumble it there and I was lucky enough to be able to pull it out in time and put it in.”

Sandin had three assists and Logan Thompson made 24 saves for the Capitals (24-17-6), who have won two of three.

“I think it was pretty obvious we were a little flat in the first 40 (minutes),” Thompson said. “We just kind of came in here and it was pretty quiet. I think everyone just said, ‘Enough is enough.’ We know we’re better than that and I think the third period really showed the type of team we can be.”

Josh Anderson and Brendan Gallagher scored, and Montembeault made 39 saves for the Canadiens (26-14-7), who are 9-2-3 in their past 14 games and were playing the second of back-to-back games after a 6-3 win Monday against the Vancouver Canucks.

“I thought we played a good half of the game,” Anderson said. “They created momentum in the second half of the game and kind of took it to us there, and, obviously, ‘Monty’ played a really good game for us tonight.”

With Thompson pulled for the extra skater, Frank tied the score 2-2 with 1:54 remaining in the third period when he deflected Sandin’s pass by Montembeault from the slot for his fourth goal in three games and second of the night.

“With some high-end guys (Tom Wilson, Pierre-Luc Dubois) out right now, it’s huge when guys like that can step up,” McMichael said of Frank. “Over the last month, I’d say, he’s really [come into] his own, and he’s really stepped up and he’s making huge plays at key moments.”

Anderson, in his return after missing six games because of an upper-body injury, gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead at 8:14 of the first period. Anderson forced a turnover in the defensive zone, started a 2-on-1 rush with Phillip Danault, kept the puck and beat Thompson far side with a snap shot from the left face-off dot.

Gallagher made it 2-0 at 7:40 of the second period, taking a pass from Danault and beating Thompson under the pads with a wrist shot from just inside the right circle.

“I thought we did a decent job of managing the puck and we were able to play in their zone,” Gallagher said of the first two periods. “It wasn’t like we were dominating by any stretch, but we were up a couple goals and we should be able to win that hockey game.”

Montreal was unable to add to their lead during 1:04 of a 5-on-3 power play late in the second.

“We have good players out there,” Canadiens coach Martin St-Louis said.

"They did what they could. It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t put the puck in the net there, and usually in 5-on-3s, if you score … you’re going to win the game, and we just didn’t score.”

Frank pulled the Capitals within 2-1 at 5:06 of the third period when he tipped Matt Roy’s shot from the right circle past Montembeault with the tip of his skate.

“We’re battling through some things, missing some key guys, but we showed a ton of character to fight in that third period,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said. “You could tell right from the first two shifts. … You never know how it’s going to end up, but I knew we were going to put our foot on the gas and throw the kitchen sink at them.”

NOTES: Strome has recorded 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in his last 13 games. … Alex Ovechkin’s four-game point streak and four-game goal streak (five goals, one assist) ended. … Canadiens forward Nick Suzuki saw his 13-game point streak against the Capitals dating back to the 2021-22 season end.