Canadiens beat Capitals 6-3 in electric Game 3 featuring bench brawl, goalie injuries

Washington Capitals goaltender Logan Thompson (48) stops a shot as Montreal Canadiens' Juraj Slafkovsky (20) looks for the rebound during first period NHL playoff action in Montreal on Friday, April 25, 2025. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi) (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press)

Christian Dvorak broke a tie at 4:17 of the third period and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Washington Capitals 6-3 on Friday night to cut their deficit in the first-round series to 2-1.

Dvorak fired shot from the far left side that hit Washington forward Brandon Duhaime and deflected past goalie Logan Thompson. Juraj Slafkovsky made it a two-goal game with 6:37 remaining, with Capitals forward Dylan Strome crashing into Thompson on the play and injuring him.

Thompson put no weight on his left skate while being helped off, leaving his status Sunday night for Game 4 in Montreal in doubt. Montreal also lost its starting goalie, with goalie Sam Montembeault leaving in the middle of the second period because a lower-body injury.

Alexandre Carrier, Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Alex Newhook also scored for Montreal. Montembeault stopped 11 of 13 shots, and Jakub Dobes madse seven saves on eight shots in relief.

Alex Ovechkin, Connor McMichael, Jakob Chychrun scored for Washington, with Ovechkin tying it at 3 at 2:29 of the third period. Thompson stopped 30 of 35 shots. Charlie Lindgren made four saves in five shots.

At the end of the second period, a heated fight between Capitals forward Tom Wilson and Montreal’s Josh Anderson spilled into Washington’s bench.

After some pushing and shoving between Montreal defenseman Arber Xhekaj and Wilson with both benches empty, Anderson got involved and fell backward into the Capitals’ bench, which had the door open.

Wilson followed Anderson in and charged through a linesman toward the Canadiens winger while other Montreal and Washington players exchanged blows on the ice.