I heard Craig Laughlin in a video clip. It must have come from Monumental Sports Network who are broadcasting Washington Capitals home games. He talked about the overtime goal Alex Ovechkin scored and it perked my ears up.

I always talk about video scouting. It’s more of a breakdown than what players are viewing on their tablets on the bench. Players all try and figure out goalies all season long but in the playoffs one little quirk can equal game-winning goals. Is that what happened in Game 1?

Laughlin talked about Capitals players going for Sam Montembeaults blocker side and how he gave up a fair amount of goals that way. To be fair, the goal Anthony Beauvillier was swatted out of the air.  I was curious about it. Let’s see how much data is out there about this. 

When I looked at a shot map, I saw evidence of him giving up goals on both sides. I think this is something recent, maybe within the last few games that he’s played and that’s not something I can call a trend. 

You tend to hear all kinds of theories at this time of the year. I am always careful to make declarations. But the focus is so great that you tend to hear twice as many theories as the regular season. 

I will be watching how the rest of the goals go in for the Capitals but so far, this doesn’t hold enough water for me. Montembeault played a solid first game so I have no criticism about his play. If this was a real weakness, the Canadiens’ would tell Montembeault about it as well.