Capitals rally in 3rd, push Canadiens to brink with Game 4 win

MONTREAL -- Brandon Duhaime scored twice in a four-goal third period for the Washington Capitals, who rallied for a 5-2 win against the Montreal Canadiens in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Bell Centre on Sunday.

Washington leads the best-of-7 series 3-1 and can advance to the second round with a win at home in Game 5 on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; MNMT, ESPN, SNP, SNO, SNE, TVAS, CBC).

Dylan Strome had a goal and an assist, and Andrew Mangiapane scored the tiebreaking goal late in the third for the Capitals, who are the No. 1 seed from the East and led the NHL with 25 comeback wins in the regular season.

“I think the thing we depend on is we’re a really tight group,” Washington forward Tom Wilson said. “There’s an accountability when you’re that tight with each other and you pull together. There’s accountability when you’re down in tough moments that you just want to pull for the guy next to you and you want to go out there and get it done, and it’s just a really cool thing when it can be any guy."

Logan Thompson, who sustained an undisclosed injury in a collision with Strome in the third period of a 6-3 loss in Game 3 on Friday, made 16 saves.

“I kind of got my bell rung a bit there,” Thompson said. “It was scary. It definitely could have been a lot worse.”

Juraj Slafkovsky and Cole Caufield each scored a power-play goal, and Ivan Demidov and Lane Hutson each had two assists for the Canadiens, who are the second wild card from the East.

“I feel a bit bad for the group,” Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said. “I don’t really know what to say to them. If you have any answers for them, let me know.”

Jakub Dobes made 21 saves in his first Stanley Cup Playoff start. The 23-year-old rookie got the win in relief on Friday after Sam Montembeault, who is day to day, left with an undisclosed injury during the second period.

“There’s only a win or a loss, you don’t get points,” Dobes said. “We’ll be fine. We’re a young group of players. I’m excited for the trip. The more experience, the better for us.”

Duhaime tied it 2-2 at 6:39 of the third. Dobes made the save on his rising shot from a sharp angle, but the rebound deflected off Caufield in front and trickled five-hole into the net.

The goal came immediately after Wilson knocked Canadiens defenseman Alexandre Carrier to the ice with a big hit along the boards. Carrier, who also left the game in the first period before returning for the second, got up and skated straight across to the Canadiens’ bench before eventually heading to the locker room.

“I don’t think the hit really changed anything other than they kind of went down the other way and just had a weird bounce off of Cole and went in,” Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki said. “But I thought we kind of carried the play in the third and just a couple of tough bounces. The last one was a tough play, I’ve got to watch it again. It’s a [bad] feeling right now but we’ve got to move on really quickly.”

Mangiapane put the Capitals in front 3-2 at 16:23, scoring glove side on Dobes from the high slot after skating into the puck, which was left for him by Strome.

Duhaime scored into an empty net at 17:21 before Wilson added another empty-net goal with 55 seconds remaining for the 5-2 final.

“[Mangiapane] has a great game tonight, scores a massive goal," Wilson said. "It’s a group that’s had different guys step up throughout the whole year. I don’t think there’s any panic when we’re down a goal.”

Strome put the Capitals up 1-0 at 1:25 of the second period. Anthony Beauvillier fought through the check of Caufield and Hutson to get a soft moving puck on net. Dobes then kicked out a rebound with his left pad, only to have Strome pounce on it and lift a backhand into the net.

“I was covering a lot of pucks and the guys wanted me to play it more,” Dobes said. “... I just feel like it was unfortunate. They got the luckier bounce on the first one and the second one, as well.”

Slafkovsky tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 10:33. Demidov made a move around Matt Roy in the right circle and skated around the net before sending a backhand pass out front to Slafkovsky, who scored with a one-timer from the bottom of the left circle.

Caufield gave the Canadiens a 2-1 lead at 18:32 with another power-play goal. His one-timer from the left circle found an opening between the post and the toe of Thompson’s right skate.

Montreal went 2-for-4 on the power play. Washington was 0-for-5.

“Remove all the power plays and penalty kills, I loved our game,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said. “I loved our start, I loved our first, I loved our second. I thought the details inside of our game were good. We weren’t generating a bunch, but that was the way it played out.”

NOTES: Strome has seven points (two goals, five assists) during a four-game point streak. ... Beauvillier has five points (one goal, four assists) during a four-game point streak. He is the first player to get an assist in each of his first four playoff games with Washington. ... Hutson is the sixth rookie defenseman in NHL history to get at least five assists in his first playoff series. ... Demidov (19 years, 138 days) is the first teenager in Canadiens history to get a multipoint game in the playoffs. He is also the first teenager to get a postseason point for Montreal since May 7, 2013, when Alex Galchenyuk (19 years, 84 days) scored in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators in Game 4 of the conference quarterfinals. ... Canadiens forward Patrik Laine missed his second straight game with an upper-body injury.