Caps Win Thriller Over Habs

Last night's game proved that, no matter how much turmoil is going on, the Montreal Canadiens are not a team the Caps want to face in the postseason.

"I think for them, they played solid the whole game, but I think once we settled down I think both teams started to play a tight defensive game and that’s why the score was so close the whole game," Mike Green said.

Even though the Caps won, 4-3, and Alex Ovechkin scored one of the prettiest goals ever, there was still plenty to worry about.

* The penalty kill allowed three goals to the Canadiens, the third time this season the Caps have done that.

"I thought our penalty killing for a week was tremendous and tonight we took a little backstep, but hopefully it will be back on track in the next game," Coach Bruce Boudreau said.

* Untimely penalties. Yes, every penalty seemingly is not wanted, but the Caps are racking up way too many. The Caps are bottom-five in the league with 292 minor penalties, but have the seventh-fewest penalty minutes per game in the NHL. Go figure.

"What are you going to do? You can tell them and tell them and tell them, and then you have to make it the same for anybody," Boudreau said. "So you sit a guy out for taking a hooking penalty and then two minutes later Alexander [Semin] takes one and you have to sit him. You have to hope they get better and there are some questionable calls out there, but what are you going to do?"

Notes:
* NHL.com has a wonderful feature on Nicklas Backstrom as part of their preview for Sunday's Penguins-Caps tilt (12:30 p.m.., NBC).

* Random stat: Ovechkin has 205 goals in 301 NHL games; Viktor Kozlov has 196 goals in 877 games.