The Washington Capitals will look to go up 2-0 in the best of seven series against the Montreal Canadiens. They'll have a hole on defense with no Martin Fehervary for the playoffs so it'll be next man up mentality for the blueline.
How to watch and more
Puck drop is at 7 p.m. on Monumental Sports Network and ESPN. You can also listen to the game on 106.7 The Fan and Caps Radio 24/7.
The Canadiens vs Capitals betting odds per Caesars have the Capitals as 1.5 goal favorites on home ice entering Game 2. The moneyline is set at -205 for the Capitals and +170 for the Canadiens. The over/under is set at 5.5 goals.
It was a happy ending to Game 1 thanks to Alex Ovechkin's overime heroics as he crashed the net after Dylan Strome won the face off. Right place. Right time. And boom. Caps lead the series 1-0.
That was all good but losing Martin Fehervary is a big blow to the defense. Washington carried eight defensemen all season but their seventh and eighth options have played in a combined total of 25 games this season.
Alex Alexyev and Dylan McIlrath are those two players and they'll have to step up in the wake of Fehervary's absense. Alexeyev left the game in the third period on Monday after taking a stick blade to the face. He was fine just needed to see a dentist.
Fehervary was one of the injury questions entering the playoffs. The others were Aliaskei Protas, who's practicing and Logan Thompson who got better and the start in net in Game 1.
In the first period the Caps came out firing on all cylindars and got off to a good start. Expect the Habs to head into the opening 20 of Game 2 a little bit hungry after the third period comeback they had.