Habs Hang On, Force Game 6 Against Caps

You've got to hand it to the Montreal Canadiens.

They looked pretty demoralized after the third-period drubbing they received Wednesday night at the hands of the Washington Capitals, their third straight disappointment, but they refused to give up at the Verizon Center on Friday.

The Habs opened Game 5 with two quick goals, then hung on to the lead all game. Posting a 2-1 win, they closed the gap in their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series to 3-2 and earned a much-deserved three-day break before they face the Caps again in Game 6 at the Bell Centre Monday.

It was another quality effort by the Canadiens, who opened the scoring a minute and a half into the game with a goal by Michael Cammalleri, his third of the series, assisted by Andrei Markov and Tomas Plekanec.

As if this wasn't a bad enough start for Washington and goalie Semyon Varlamov, the Habs scored again, two shots later, on a back-hander by Travis Moen, assisted by Brian Gionta and Scott Gomez. The Moen-Gomez-Gionta line, a fresh combination, was dynamite Friday, particularly as they went the distance to contain the Caps in the final minutes of the game.

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The Habs appear to be making a habit of these compelling starts. In Game 2, also in Washington, they went two-for-two on their first two shots of the game, forcing Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau to pull Jose Theodore in favour of Varlamov. While Washington eventually won that game, and the next, and the next - Game 5 felt like a momentum-changer.

Late in the first period, the Caps rallied to eventually outshoot the Habs 15-9 on the frame, but Jaroslav Halak stood his ground, giving his best performance of the series since Game 1, stopping 37 shots on the night and re-asserting his claim to the starting position after coach Jacques Martin opted for Carey Price in Game 4. He repeatedly stoned Alexander Semin, who had a helluva night that included a superman poke-check that spoiled a Plekanec breakaway. Halak also turned away near-goals by Tomas Fleischmann and Eric Fehr in the third period, when the Habs began to turtle and looked like they might collapse.

Early in the second period, Halak allowed the Caps' loner, a not-so-pretty one by Alexander Ovechkin, who poked in a loose puck in front of the net as Sergei Kostitsyn looked on, extending his goal-scoring streak to four games after the Habs shut him down in Game 1. Ovie would spend most of the third driving toward the Canadiens' goal and desperately wiring the puck at Halak, but couldn't find the equalizer.

The Capitals went 0-for-5 on the power play Friday, continuing a surprise slump that follows a regular season in which they topped the league in power-play percentage.