WASHINGTON — Jaroslav Halak made 41 saves, Marc-Andre Bergeron scored a 4-on-3 goal in the last 30 seconds of the first period Wednesday night and eighth-seeded Montreal held on to beat Washington 2-1 in Game 7, stunning the Presidents’ Trophy winners by reeling off three consecutive victories.
“I’m in shock right now. I don’t know what to say,” Alex Ovechkin said, his voice low, his eyes staring at the floor of the locker room. “It was great going up 3-1 in the series. But it’s only one step. We didn’t do it.”
The Canadiens are the ninth No. 8 team to knock off a No. 1 in 32 matchups since the NHL went to its playoff format in 1994 — and the first to come back from a 3-1 series deficit.
“Before the series started, no one gave us a chance to win, not even one game,” Halak said. “We proved (to) them they were wrong.”
Dominic Moore made it 2-0 for the Canadiens with 3 1/2 minutes left, stealing the puck from defenseman Mike Green and beating goalie Semyon Varlamov. That silenced the home crowd — but the Capitals didn’t go quietly.
Brooks Laich cut Washington’s deficit to a goal by poking home a shot while down on his knees after Ovechkin put the puck on net off a rebound. That made it 2-1 with 2:16 left, and the Capitals kept pushing frantically forward, pulling Varlamov for an extra attacker down the stretch.
A high-sticking penalty call against Montreal defenseman Ryan O’Byrne with 1:44 to go put the Capitals on the power play. But Halak was up to the task every time, and he was helped by a remarkably high total of 41 shots that Montreal’s skaters were credited with blocking.
“I would have bet my house that they wouldn’t have beaten us three games in a row,” Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau said.
