Capitals doomed by four-goal second period in Montreal, lose 6-2
MONTREAL (AP) — Joel Armia had his second career hat trick and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Washington Capitals 6-2 on Thursday night to snap a four-game skid.
Nick Suzuki, Brendan Gallagher and Mike Hoffman also scored for Montreal, Mike Matheson had two assists and Sam Montembeault made 24 saves.
Dylan Strome and Nicklas Backstom scored for Washington and Darcy Kuemper made 25 saves. Washington has lost three straight.
Freshly eliminated from playoff contention, the Capitals played a man short with forward Anthony Mantha ruled out with a lower-body injury.
Montreal took the lead with a second short-handed goal at 7:52 of the second when Armia whipped in a wrister from the left faceoff circle.
Drouin then located Gallagher in the slot with a backhand pass behind the net to get the Habs a 3-1 advantage.
Armia scored his second of the night, sending a slap shot past Kuemper, giving Montreal a 4-1 lead by the second intermission.
Armia completed the hat trick into an empty net with 17 seconds remaining.
Capitals host Florida on Saturday night.
