Well undermanned because of injuries, the Caps did not play with much energy in this game. Montreal has turned into a solid positionally defensive team that had the Caps boxed out at every turn. Unable to gain speed in the neutral zone or fight their way to the crease there was no opportunity for odd man breaks or rebounds all night.
Fehr scored off a perfect setup from Perreault who frequently seemed to be the only player skating with energy. Morrison added one late in the game when the team finally showed some fight culminating in a frantic 45 seconds of play that ended with a Mike Green shot bouncing off the post and underneath goaltender Price with 17 seconds remaining. Some argued that Green had one of his best games of the season with a handful of good opportunities. From my perspective it was another game where the defense let one get away.
Given the depleted roster and defensive attitude of the Canadians you'd like to think the D could take charge and shut things down - but the failure to control the slot (Poti) and clear the puck off a clean win on the (inevitable third period) penalty kill (Green) resulted in goals that let this one get away.
The game featured the NHL debut of John Carlson who played solid physical D (five hits) and rang the post with a second period shot. Its always great to see the family in the stands for a rookie's debut game and his mom looked ready to bust open from emotion.
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