Lane Hutson and his brother Cole faced off for the first time on Wednesday night, and both made an impact. Cole set up the Washington Capitals’ first goal, while Lane scored the Montreal Canadiens’ second goal of the game. Like the brothers’ skating, the first frame flew by and didn’t disappoint.

Both teams have plenty of talent, but Washington has the edge in size; still, the Canadiens showed they could handle themselves all night. While the two teams were tied after 20 and 40 minutes, the Capitals eventually won 5-4

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For a second straight game, Josh Anderson found the back of the net, but this time he did it twice. The power forward scored his third and fourth goals of the season; last year, Anderson didn’t score his fourth until November 22nd.

While the alternate captain struggles to put away breakaway chances, he has the tools to score up close when he has to act quickly. In a contract year, he's doing everything he can to earn an extension in Montreal. Since the organization chose to give him the “A” left vacant after Brendan Gallagher’s departure, it’s likely they don't intend to cut ties with the veteran, especially if he keeps playing this way. It would have been easy to choose a younger player who’ll be part of the core for years, but they chose the veteran.

The Canadiens have had more than their fair share of bad luck lately. On Tuesday night, a puck deflected off Adam Engstrom’s hand before beating Jacob Fowler; on Wednesday night, a deflection off Anderson’s stick became the Capitals’ first goal, getting past Jakub Dobes.

Meanwhile, Juraj Slafkovsky had a couple of unlucky breaks as well, from a hard pass in his skates by Hutson that was impossible to control and which became a shorthanded goal for the Caps, to his landing on Tom Wilson’s hip as he was struggling to regain balance after narrowly avoiding an Ivan Miroshnichenko hit. Thankfully for the big Slovak, he was unhurt, and while he initially headed down the tunnel, he didn’t miss a shift. Once upon a time, Slafkovsky used to skate with his head down a lot and take responsibility for his own bad luck, but this wasn’t that; it was just a purely unfortunate landing.

After Slafkovsky collided with Wilson, both Alexandre Carrier and Kaiden Guhle went to the penalty box, leaving the Habs shorthanded with two of their best shutdown defenders unavailable. As a result, Arber Xhekaj spent 1:52 of those two minutes on the ice and did a great job, breaking up a couple of plays. What’s also impressive is that Wilson was on the ice for that power play, and the gritty defenseman resisted the urge to drop the gloves.

He paid him a visit, but with the score tied 3-3 and two defensemen already in the sin bin, it just wasn’t time for extracurriculars. Wilson’s hit wasn't dirty, but it was still worth Xhekaj making his presence felt.

After making way for Fowler in the last three games, Dobes probably hoped for a good night between the pipes, but it didn’t go that way. He gave up five goals on 24 shots, for a .792 save percentage and still looked tentative at times, almost as if he was surprised to have the puck and failed to freeze it. A goaltender’s job is not only to stop the shots, but also to inspire confidence in his team, something the Czech goaltender hasn’t done since the season opener in Toronto. Once again Thursday night, he overcommitted to one side at times or dropped to his knees too early. As things stand, he doesn’t look like the goaltender that took the Canadiens to the Eastern Conference Final.

After the game, Dobes didn't shy away from taking responsibility for his performance, saying he needed to "be better for the guys" and refusing to use his full week off as an excuse. He added that he failed to give the team momentum and they spent the night chasing the game. 

Meanwhile, in the three games Fowler spent in net, he had a Carey Price demeanor, as if nothing rattled him. He looked in control the whole time, and his positioning was great. If Martin St-Louis has decided to go with the hot hand this season, he’ll have no choice but to go back to Fowler at the Bell Centre on Saturday night, and one can wonder what that will do to Dobes’ confidence. 

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