Canadiens Force Game 7 With 4-1 Win Over Caps

Mike Cammalleri scored two early goals and Jaroslav Halak made 53 saves as the Montreal Canadiens staved off elimination from the NHL playoffs for a second game in a row with a 4-1 victory over the Washington Capitals on Monday night.

The best-of-seven first-round series is tied 3-3 with the decisive Game 7 set for Wednesday night in Washington.

Maxim Lapierre also scored and Tomas Plekanec had an empty-net goal for the Canadiens, who killed off six Washington man advantages and have held the league’s best regular-season power play to 1-for-30 in the series

Eric Fehr finally broke Halak’s bid for a first career playoff shutout on Washington’s 52nd shot with 4:50 left in the game.

Halak, who has shone in all three Montreal victories, set a season high for saves as the high-powered Capitals’ attack dominated territorial advantage but was foiled time and again by the 24-year-old from Slovakia. His 50th save was a dramatic stop with his glove on rookie John Carlsson during a Washington power play.

The Canadiens were called three times for diving – Brian Gionta once and Lapierre twice.

It was a first taste of NHL playoff action for defence prospect P.K. Subban, who was called up Monday from the American Hockey League’s Hamilton Bulldogs and picked up his career first playoff point on Cammalleri’s second goal.

Halak set the tone early, making back-to-back saves off Alexander Semin from the slot and Brooks Laich on the rebound. He stopped 18 Washington shots in the first period alone, which included a Washington two-man advantage for 1:15.

The Canadiens cashed in on their first power play at 7:30 as Marc-Andre Bergeron’s shot was blocked and Cammalleri picked the far post with a wrist shot.

Less than three minutes later, Plekanec won a face-off and Subban sent it to Cammalleri for a long shot that fooled Semyon Varlamov, who faced only 22 shots.

The Canadiens sat back in the second frame and were outshot 15-3, but Halak was brilliant again, particularly while killing off a rare stand-alone diving call against Lapierre for embellishing a hit from Mike Green.

He robbed Joe Corvo from alone in the slot with the glove, got lucky when Green hit a post, and then thwarted Ovechkin in alone.

In the third, Lapierre burst down the right wing and saw his blast go off Shaone Morrisonn’s stick and under the cross-bar at 4:17.

Lapierre was sent off again when he went heavily to the ice after he was grabbed by Corvo at 6:32 to a wall of booing from the 21,273 Bell Centre fans. That soon turned to a standing ovation as Montreal killed the penalty. Tomas Fleischmann had a chance to score an open net but shot right at Halak.

Washington finally scored at 15:10 when Green sent a pass to the side of the net where Fehr pushed it into an open side.