Capitals 5–4 Canadiens: Tuch and Holl turned a chaotic game into a Washington win

Washington beat Montréal 5–4 at Capital One Arena on Wednesday, 14 October (Thursday morning in Zambia). Alex Tuch scored twice, including a shorthanded goal and the eventual winner, while Justin Holl broke a 3–3 tie midway through the third period. The result ended the Capitals' two-game slide, but the nine-goal scoreline does not tell a simple story of one side controlling the night. Montréal put 30 shots on goal to Washington's 23 and led twice in the opening period.

The useful question is why Washington won despite that shot deficit. The answer begins with a special-teams swing and ends with a better-managed third period. The Capitals' official account acknowledges that their first two periods were uneven at five-on-five. They nevertheless reached the final intermission level because Ivan Miroshnichenko's power-play goal tied the first period at 2–2, and Tuch converted a second-period two-on-one while Washington was shorthanded. Those are not interchangeable with sustained territorial dominance; they are high-value moments that kept a flawed performance alive.

Where the game tilted

Josh Anderson opened the scoring after Alex Newhook retrieved a Washington turnover below the goal line and found him in front. Jordan Kyrou equalised just after a Capitals power play expired, then Lane Hutson restored Montréal's lead. The Canadiens had a credible route to the result: force errors in Washington's zone, get the puck through to the slot and make a tired opponent defend another shift. Anderson later scored again from Newhook's service to level at 3–3 in the second period. That second goal is an important counterweight to any account suggesting Montréal merely chased the game.

Tuch's first goal provided a different route. With Washington killing a penalty, he carried a two-on-one into the Montréal zone and chose the shot from the left circle. He did not need a long spell of possession to flip the score to 3–2. His decision made Montréal's special-teams edge less useful: a power play became an opening for the opponent. Washington also gained a power-play goal when Miroshnichenko's attempted pass deflected in off Anderson's stick. The sequence makes special teams central to the analysis, not just a footnote to Tuch's finishing.

At 12:29 of the third, Holl sent a wrist shot through traffic from the right point to put Washington ahead 4–3. Alex Ovechkin's assist on that play was his 760th in the NHL, according to the league. Holl's goal mattered tactically because it rewarded a more ordered Capitals period rather than another breakaway. The home side had steadier shifts and better puck placement, according to its own postgame report, after looking vulnerable earlier. Tuch then made it 5–3 with a spinning shot at 17:05.

Why 5–4 was not comfortable

Nick Suzuki scored on a six-on-four power play at 18:21, pulling Montréal back within one. The Canadiens' 30–23 shot advantage and Anderson's two goals are real evidence against overstating Washington's control. So is the fact that a late extra-attacker sequence left one more decisive defensive task. The Capitals won the third period on the scoreboard and managed much of it more cleanly, but the final margin remained narrow.

For Washington, the encouraging sign is that it found more than one way to answer trouble: a shorthanded rush, a point shot through traffic and Tuch's late finish. For Montréal, the concern is not a lack of attacking work; it is that two first-period leads and a shot advantage became no standings points. One early-season game cannot establish a durable special-teams trend or settle either club's wider trajectory. It does show how costly a short-handed concession and a lapse in third-period coverage can be when the opponent's finishing is sharp.

Image: Washington–Montréal game at Capital One Arena in 2011, photographed by Justin Grimes, CC BY-SA 2.0. Illustrative archive image; not from this 2026 match. For the confirmed scoring sequence and player statistics, see the official NHL box score, the NHL game report and the Capitals' postgame account. Follow the match page for the recorded result. Montréal's previous shootout win over Buffalo supplies the immediate form context.