Two games, two one-goal finishes, and enough lead changes to make a Wednesday in mid-October feel like late April. The NHL's light slate on October 14 delivered twice over: in Washington, the Capitals outlasted the Montreal Canadiens 5-4 in a game that kept flipping, and in Denver, the Dallas Stars needed a four-round shootout to beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-2 and finish off a home-and-home split. If you like your hockey decided early, Wednesday was not your night. If you like it decided by the guys you pay to decide it, it absolutely was.
Tuch, Twice, When It Mattered
Start at Capital One Arena, where Montreal struck first and Josh Anderson — who would be heard from again — opened the scoring on his way to a two-goal night, his third and fourth goals of the season. Washington answered through Jordan Kyrou and then Ivan Miroshnichenko, whose first goal of the season came on the power play late in the first period. From there the game turned into a seesaw that refused to settle. Alex Tuch broke a 2-2 tie in the second period with an unassisted shorthanded goal, the kind of solo effort that changes a bench's mood all by itself. Anderson tied it again for Montreal. Then, in the third, Justin Holl restored the Washington lead and Tuch struck once more at 17:05 — his fifth goal of the season — to build the cushion the Capitals turned out to need, because Nick Suzuki's late power-play goal pulled Montreal back within one at 5-4 before Washington closed the door.
Tuch finished with two goals and an assist, a team-high three points that pulled him level with Ryan Leonard for the team points lead at six. Charlie Lindgren made 25 saves in goal. The win moved Washington to 4-3 and snapped a two-game skid, which matters more than the style points in a division that punishes every little slide. Montreal fell to 3-3-1 despite outshooting the Capitals — a frustrating line that has a way of following the Canadiens around: play well enough to win, leave with nothing. Anderson's two goals and Suzuki's late strike kept them close all night, but close, on the road, against a team that got its best forward's best game, was not quite enough.
A Shootout in Denver, and a Milestone
The nightcap at Ball Arena was tighter and stranger. The first period finished scoreless, but not for lack of trying — Colorado had two goals overturned, the kind of period that leaves a home crowd equal parts loud and exasperated. Gabriel Landeskog finally broke through at 4:55 of the second, tipping in the opener. Dallas answered at 15:03 through Miro Heiskanen, whose tying goal was the 70th of his career and moved him past Daryl Sydor for sixth among Stars defensemen — a quiet little piece of franchise history tucked inside a regular-season game in October. Early in the third, Arttu Hyry gave Dallas a 2-1 lead on a shorthanded breakaway, and Brock Nelson tied it 2-2 for Colorado at 8:21 to force the extra session.
Overtime settled nothing, so the shootout did. Jason Robertson scored in the first round for Dallas, Nazem Kadri answered for Colorado, and Roope Hintz delivered the winner in the fourth round. Behind all of it, Casey DeSmith stopped 25 of 27 shots to earn the 100th win of his career — according to NHL.com, he is the 26th American-born goaltender to reach that number. Milestones do not get much more workmanlike than a shootout win on the second night of a home-and-home, which is exactly why they suit DeSmith: a hundred wins is a career built one unglamorous, necessary night at a time.
There is a common thread between the two games, and it is the part coaches will circle on the video. Both winners leaned on their goaltender: Lindgren finished with 25 saves in a game Montreal kept pushing until the end, and DeSmith's shootout work finished a night in which Colorado had already seen two goals waved off and still found a way to force overtime. Neither team played a clean sixty minutes. Both found a way to bank two points anyway, which in October is often the whole skill — surviving your own mistakes before they harden into habits.
What Wednesday Leaves Behind
The standings lines are modest but real. Dallas moved to 3-3-1 and took three of a possible four points from the home-and-home with a division rival it will be measuring itself against all season; Colorado settled for a point and sits at 4-2-1, hardly a wound. Washington's win steadied a wobbly week, and Montreal's loss stung precisely because the Canadiens played well enough to expect more. Two games is a small slate, but Wednesday managed to pack in a shorthanded game-breaker, a milestone win, a defenseman climbing a franchise list and two finishes that went down to the final minutes. October hockey is supposed to be the appetizer. Nobody told these four teams. Keep up with the rest of the action on our sports front, including the Golden Knights' homestand opener against the Flames, and tonight's football in our Seahawks-Broncos preview.
