Beauvillier continues to shine at playoff time for Capitals

ARLINGTON, Va. -- Anthony Beauvillier has a history of producing during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the Washington Capitals were the beneficiaries during a 3-2 overtime win against the Montreal Canadiens in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference First Round on Monday.

Beauvillier scored in the second period to put the Capitals ahead 2-0, but the Canadiens scored twice in the third to force overtime.

Then at 2:26 of extra time, Beauvillier got his own rebound and centered a pass to Alex Ovechkin, who scored to give the Capitals a 1-0 lead in the best-of-7 series.

Game 2 will be at Capital One Arena on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; MNMT, ESPN, SN, TVAS, CBC).

"I'm just trying to throw it backside there to him," Beauvillier said Monday. "It feels good. I think we showed a lot of character just going into overtime and leaving the third period behind us."

Beauvillier, taking the place of injured forward Aliaksei Protas (skate cut on left foot) on the top line with Ovechkin and center Dylan Strome, led the Capitals with five shots on goal in 14:42 of ice time in Game 1.

"I thought their line was solid," Washington coach Spencer Carbery said. "Beauvillier stuck out to me. Thought he was really strong tonight. Thought he did a lot of good things from a forecheck, puck possession, moving his feet. I liked their line, yeah. I thought they did a lot of good things."

Drafted by the New York Islanders in first round (No. 28) of the 2015 NHL Draft, Beauvillier has 33 points (17 goals, 16 assists) in 56 Stanley Cup Playoff games.

His average of 0.59 points per game during the postseason is better than his regular-season average of 0.43 points per game (271 points in 631 games).

He was a big piece of the Islanders reaching the third round of the playoffs in 2020 and 2021.

During the 2020 postseason, he tied for the team lead with nine goals in 22 games, including three game-winning goals. He scored twice in a 5-1 win against the Florida Panthers in Game 4 to clinch the best-of-5 Stanley Cup Qualifiers series, and scored the first two goals of a 4-0 win against the Capitals in a series-clinching Game 5 victory in the best-of-7 Eastern Conference First Round. He also scored an empty-net goal to cap a 4-0 win against the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Second Round.

The following year, he had a goal and two assists for the Islanders in a 5-3 win in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup First Round to eliminate the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Beauvillier had 20 points (13 goals, seven assists) in 63 games with the Penguins this season before being traded to the Capitals on March 7 for a second-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft. The 27-year-old had five points (two goals, three assists) in 18 regular-season games with the Capitals, skating mostly on the fourth line with Brandon Duhaime and Nic Dowd.

But when Protas was injured during a game against the Chicago Blackhawks on April 4, Beauvillier was shifted to the top line.

"I think he's a hard-working guy," Ovechkin said. "Obviously he has skill and, yeah, it's clicking and it's a good thing. We have a couple injuries, but he's a big piece right now for us and we're happy to have him in our line."

With Protas skating the past two days, and Carbery saying he expects the forward to return at some point during the series, Beauvillier's stay on the top line might not last much longer. But he's certainly impressed his teammates.

"He's done it before in the playoffs," Strome said. "Sometimes those guys just rise to the occasion, and I feel like he's a guy that does that. I know he has some big goals in his career. Obviously we're happy to have him. I think he fits in great with 'Ovi' and myself."