Montreal Canadiens at Washington Capitals

Ovechkin scores his 1st playoff overtime goal as the Capitals beat the Canadiens 3-2 in Game 1

Fresh off breaking Wayne Gretzky's record for the most goals in league history 15 days earlier, Ovechkin's second of the game 3:26 into OT allowed the Eastern Conference top-seeded Capitals to escape after blowing a two-goal third-period lead.

“A goal is a goal,” said Ovechkin, who went his first 44 playoff overtime games without scoring the winner. "It doesn’t matter. (And) in the playoffs, especially, it doesn’t matter who scores. I think it gives you confidence.

Before letting it slip away, they spent much of the night bullying the smaller, less experienced Canadiens with one big hit after another. That was part of a concerted effort to finish checks, and the Capitals had 42 hits with 14 of 18 skaters registering at least one.

"Everybody was hitting,” said Ovechkin, who led the way with seven. “All our guys get involved in the physical game.”

The physicality helped Washington tilt the ice, with Ovechkin scoring on the power play late in the first period and setting up Anthony Beauvillier's goal in the second.

But it was far from easy.

Pierre-Luc Dubois' penalty paved the way for Cole Caufield to start Montreal's comeback bid with 9:28 left in regulation. The Capitals tried to hold on, and a defensive-zone mess allowed Nick Suzuki to tie it with 4:15 left on a shot into a wide-open net after goaltender Logan Thompson slid out of the crease.

Fortunately for them, Ovechkin scoring gave them a 1-0 series lead — Washington's first playoff victory since May 7, 2022.

“Obviously sat back a bit too much in the third,” said Dylan Strome, who had two assists. "But a win’s a win, take it and move on.”

Thompson finished with 33 saves in his first NHL game action since getting injured when a shot dislodged his mask April 2 at Carolina.

"LT was great," Strome said. “That save I remember in the first period on Suzuki on the 2 on 1. ... It was a huge save at the time to kind of keep our momentum going and I love his game.”

At the other end of the ice, Sam Montembeault was arguably the Canadiens' best player, stopping 29 of the 31 shots he faced in his Stanley Cup playoff debut.

“In terms of what we tried to do out there tonight, I felt it was a pretty good first game,” coach Martin St. Louis said. "There was a lot of good stuff. Unfortunately you don’t win, but we got some really good stuff from this game.”

Up next Game 2 is Wednesday night in Washington before the series shifts to Montreal for Games 3 and 4 Friday and Sunday.

WSH wins series 2-1