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MONTREAL - After jostling Canadiens goaltender Jaroslav Halak throughout the night in Game 2, Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin is now rattling the young netminder’s cage.
One come-from-behind win to even their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series and apparently the Caps have got their swagger back.
Never mind that the NHL’s top regular season team was as close as the gap in Ovechkin’s grin from behind down 2-0 to the eighth seed...and going on the road.
“You just have to make some traffic in front of (Halak) and put in the rebounds. He gives lots of rebounds,” said Ovechkin, who did just that to poke a puck through Halak in the Caps’ 6-5 overtime win Saturday night, which saw the Caps overcome a 4-1 deficit.
“I watched the replay when (Eric Fehr) scored the goal and his arm was, like, shaking when he drink water. So he’s nervous. He knows all the pressure (is) on him and it’s a good sign for us.”
With Ovechkin channeling some Tomas Plekanec when it comes to running some smack on the guys in pads, it would have been refreshing to have Halak come out and say something like, “Alex who? Crosby?” but he sent word through a Canadiens spokesman he did not wish to talk to the media and had no interest in “getting into a war of words” heading into Game 3 Monday night.
Well, as we expected, goaltending, more than in any other series, has become the fulcrum of this matchup.
Capitals goaltender Jose Theodore was chased after giving up two goals on two shots Saturday night (Semyon Varlamov came in and got the win) and then Halak surrendered five goals on just 17 shots as the Caps rallied to victory in overtime.
Washington coach Bruce Boudreau was going to make his call on Theodore or Varlamov during the flight here Sunday afternoon while Martin, who doesn’t announce his starter until the morning of the game, left little doubt he’s coming back with Halak, regardless of Ovechkin’s scouting report.
“That’s his comment. I’ve answered the point,” said Martin. “I felt our goaltending was strong and as usual gives us a chance to win the game.”
Boudreau is adopting the “I told you so” spin on his goaltending turntable, basically telling everyone there’s no story here, this is what we expected, move along, folks.
“I think we said before the series started if we were to go anywhere in this, we probably would have to use both goalies,” he said. “I’m sure we’re still going to use both goalies. Whether Varly plays Monday or Theo plays Monday, I think they’re both going to play again. I didn’t fault (Theodore in Game 2). One thing about Theo, he’s lasted in this league because he can put that stuff behind him and play great when we ask him to play great again.
“Heck, I don’t know if we’re going to get by this series, but if we do, he’s going to play.”
So would Canadiens veteran forward Scott Gomez maybe have some words of comfort for young Halak?
“I don’t know anything about goaltending...I can’t go up to him and talk to him. I guess in knee hockey I was pretty good at goaltending. Goaltenders are different all around. They’re weirdos, anyway, so I don’t think I could go up to him and talk sense. I’d probably be the last guy.
“You’d really have to have some set of (sounds like “guts”) on you to go up to a goaltender and tell him what you think he should be doing at this level, especially in the playoffs.”
Which Caps goaltender will we see Monday?
For that matter, which Halak?
chris.stevenson@sunmedia.ca