Chaos and celebration as Canadiens defeat Capitals 6-3 in wild Game 3

It was a night to remember at the Bell Centre.

The Montreal Canadiens defeated the Washington Capitals  6-3 in a chaotic Game 3 on Friday. With the win, the Canadiens now trail 2-1 in the first-round series.

Christian Dvorak scored the game-winner at 4:17 of the third period.

Juraj Slafkovsky, Alexandre Carrier, Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Alex Newhook were Montreal’s other goal scorers, while Connor McMichael, Jakob Chychrun and Alex Ovechkin scored for the Caps.

Goals were far from the only thing to make headlines in this one, however, as the game also included a bench brawl at the end of the second period. The madness was headlined by a wrestling match between Josh Anderson and Tom Wilson on the Capitals’ bench.

Both teams also lost their starting goaltenders in the game. Canadiens netminder Sam Montembeault was forced to exit midway through the second period, while Capitals starter Logan Thompson was injured late in the third period.

The teams will get one day off before Game Four in Montreal on Sunday.

The crowd goes crazy outside Bell Centre

Outside the Bell Centre, fans erupted in celebration as they took in the Canadiens’ home playoff win.

“It was a wonderful game. I’m really happy, man — really happy. It was a wonderful game. We did it today. We did it. 6-3 for the win,” one fan said.

“That was an amazing game. Yeah — crazy game,” another added.

“Amazing. So much fun. We’ll do it again. The ambiance — everything,” said one woman in the crowd.

“I think it was a really good game. I mean, we win!” said another fan, grinning.

“It’s great to be back in the playoffs post-COVID, especially because we didn’t get to be in the building to cheer for the Montreal Canadiens,” said another. “It was insane. The crowd was cheering so hard — with the towels too. That was the perfect playoff ambiance here.”