Oshie, Capitals beat Canadiens for first win of season

WASHINGTON (AP) — T.J. Oshie had a goal and assist and the Washington Capitals beat the Montreal Canadiens 3-1 on Saturday night to avoid their first 0-3-0 start since the 2012-13 lockout season.

Conor Sheary and Anthony Mantha also scored for the Capitals.

After back-to-back losses to open the 2022-23 campaign, coach Peter Laviolette shook up the line combinations to try and ignite a spark. The message was heard loud and clear in the locker room, and led to more urgency.

“After two games like that, it is a way to tell the guys, ‘Hey, it is time to get going.' We have a certain standard that we need to play up to, live up to here, and we weren't doing that in the first two games," Oshie said. “We need to keep pushing that standard as the season goals and roll those things over. But definitely when the lines get mixed around ... you come to the rink a little more focused than maybe you would otherwise.”

Down 1-0 after Nick Suzuki's goal, the Capitals got a much-needed spark on special teams that led to three goals in the second period.

“They came at us, got a lot of good shots ... they kind of took it to us in the second,” Canadiens forward Jonathan Drouin said. “I thought we had a good start in the first and obviously a good third period. It kind of stings that way, but they're a team with experience and a lot of chemistry, and they're going to find ways to get goals.”

After failing to convert on its first nine power-play opportunities of the season, the Capitals made some adjustments to the top power-play unit, placing Dylan Strome on the half wall and replacing Evgeny Kuznetsov with Marcus Johansson. That group finally broke through when Oshie got to the front and buried a rebound off Alex Ovechkin's shot to make it