Tuch Scored Twice — Washington's $84M Bet Passed a Test Its Defense Almost Failed
GOATIFYAlex Tuch did not need a quiet October game to justify his place in Washington. He needed a moment that explained why the Capitals committed eight years and $84 million to a winger who can influence more than the scoresheet. Wednesday's 5-4 win over Montreal supplied two of them: a shorthanded strike that changed the middle period and a late finish that proved to be the winner.
It also supplied a warning. The Canadiens led twice, kept finding space near Washington's net and nearly stole a point after falling two goals behind late. Tuch's two goals and an assist rescued the result, but the more useful question is whether the Capitals can turn that individual finishing into a repeatable team advantage.
Tuch's $84 million price tag is buying Washington more than goals
The most telling part of Tuch's night was not simply the two goals. It was how differently they arrived. His first came while Washington was killing a penalty. After a deflection created a loose puck, Tuch carried a two-on-one down the left side with Aliaksei Protas available as a passing option. He looked across the ice long enough to keep the defender honest, then released a shot from the circle. The threat of the pass helped create the shooting lane.
His second was a different kind of answer. With Montreal pushing in the third period and Washington protecting a one-goal lead, Tuch spun into space and beat Jakub Dobes from the right circle at 17:05. It looked like insurance at 5-3. When Nick Suzuki scored on a late six-on-four power play, that supposed insurance became the winning margin.
Those two sequences explain the appeal of the June move. Washington acquired Tuch from Buffalo in a sign-and-trade after he agreed to an eight-year, $84 million contract, carrying a $10.5 million annual cap hit. The club was not purchasing a pure power-play specialist. It was adding a large, mobile forward who could defend, kill penalties, finish rushes and play meaningful minutes against strong opponents. He had already scored 33 goals for Buffalo in 2025-26, and this performance gave him five goals and six points through seven games in his new uniform.
Seven games cannot establish the long-term value of an eight-year deal. A hot shooting start can cool quickly, and the demands of an entire season are very different from a handful of October fixtures. But the underlying variety is encouraging: a short-handed break, a decisive late shot and an assist on Jordan Kyrou's equalizer. The Capitals wanted another way to win when Alex Ovechkin was not scoring. Tuch offered several in one evening.
The shorthanded goal masked a messy night of momentum swings
Washington's win was a useful study in how a game can tilt without either side fully controlling it. Montreal struck first when a turnover in the Capitals' end allowed Alex Newhook to find Josh Anderson unmarked in front. Kyrou answered from the high slot, only for Lane Hutson to restore the Canadiens' lead with an assertive move into shooting space. A power-play goal from Ivan Miroshnichenko, in his season debut, brought Washington level at 2-2 before the first intermission.
The sequence revealed both teams' strengths and flaws. Montreal moved the puck well enough to create dangerous looks, particularly when it recovered possession close to the goal line. Washington, meanwhile, had the finishers to erase mistakes but too often allowed the Canadiens to attack the most valuable ice. A four-goal first period did not mean the Capitals had solved their defensive-zone issues.
Tuch's short-handed goal at 6:16 of the second period was the night's cleanest example of Washington making its special teams work offensively. Instead of merely surviving a penalty kill, the Capitals converted a Montreal mishandle into a rush that changed the score. The advantage lasted less than seven minutes. Newhook again found Anderson near the crease, and the Canadiens tied the game 3-3.
That second Anderson goal mattered because it was not a completely new problem. Montreal had already scored through a similar interior passing lane. When the same kind of chance reappears, it points toward positioning, communication and puck management rather than one isolated bad bounce. Washington cannot count on two elite finishes from Tuch every time it gives up repeated close-range opportunities.
Still, the Capitals did get meaningful contributions from several parts of the lineup. Kyrou finished with a goal and an assist, Ilya Protas recorded two assists, and Charlie Lindgren supplied the saves required to keep the game within reach. The team improved to 4-3-0 after consecutive losses. That is progress, but the performance showed why the next step must involve controlling the game between the goals, not simply responding after conceding them.
Montreal's young core created chances — then paid for the mistakes
For Montreal, the loss will be frustrating precisely because the Canadiens were not passengers. Anderson scored twice, Newhook supplied the setup on both occasions, and Lane Hutson added a goal and an assist. There were extended stretches when the visitors carried the puck confidently and forced Washington to defend. The problem was converting that territorial promise into a lead that survived the third period.
Anderson's goals illustrated the value of attacking the crease instead of settling for perimeter possession. On both plays, Newhook identified the opening and delivered the puck into a dangerous central area. The Canadiens did not need elaborate passing sequences to hurt Washington; they needed speed in the recovery, a forward available around the net and one accurate feed.
Lane Hutson offered a different threat. His first-period goal came after he moved past a defender and found space for a wrist shot, another reminder of how aggressively the young defenseman can influence an attack. The night also brought a family subplot: Lane faced his younger brother Cole, now on Washington's blue line, in their first NHL head-to-head meeting. Both recorded a point. It was an unusual piece of hockey history, but it was not the main reason the game turned.
Montreal's bigger issue was situational execution. The Canadiens surrendered a shorthanded goal, were beaten by a point shot through traffic in the third, and allowed Tuch enough space to deliver the decisive late finish. After that, Suzuki's power-play goal at 18:21 reduced the deficit to one, but the clock left little room for another response.
There is no reason to dismiss the Canadiens' offensive progress after one road defeat. Their movement and finishing repeatedly troubled Washington, and the young defensemen are capable of creating chances that many teams struggle to manufacture. But a team trying to climb the standings must make its strong stretches count. Scoring four on the road is usually enough to compete; conceding five, including one while on the power play, changes the calculation.
Holl broke the tie, Ovechkin reached 760 assists — and the real test comes next
The winning sequence began before Tuch's late goal. At 12:29 of the third, Justin Holl sent a shot through traffic from the right point and Washington moved ahead 4-3. It was his second goal in two games, an unexpected burst of scoring from a defenseman better known for providing structure and minutes. For a team that had been tied or trailing for much of the night, the timing mattered as much as the scorer.
Alex Ovechkin earned an assist on the play, the 760th of his NHL career. That put him two behind Nicklas Backstrom's Washington franchise mark of 762. In a season already framed by Ovechkin's announced retirement, milestones will draw attention almost every week. This one also captured a less obvious contribution: the franchise's greatest goal scorer helping produce a critical goal without taking the final shot.
Washington's third period was sharper than the opening forty minutes. The Capitals were more deliberate about how they advanced the puck and did a better job protecting their lead after Holl scored. But the late penalty and Suzuki's six-on-four goal prevented a comfortable finish. Lindgren and the defenders still had to manage the final seconds with a single-goal margin.
That is the distinction between a dramatic victory and a complete one. A dramatic victory can depend on a hot scorer, a well-timed point shot and a goaltender absorbing pressure. A complete victory reduces the number of emergencies required. Washington has enough high-end finishers to survive some disorder, but the roster was built to compete over months, not merely win individual shootouts disguised as regulation games.
The immediate schedule gives the Capitals a chance to test whether this was a turning point. They return home against New Jersey on Saturday, October 17, while Montreal hosts Buffalo. Washington should be looking for cleaner defensive exits, fewer unmarked opponents near the crease and a more controlled start. If those improvements arrive alongside Tuch's finishing, the $84 million addition could look less like a rescue act and more like the piece that raises the team's ceiling.
Washington won 5-4 because it had the finishers to answer Montreal's pressure, not because it controlled every phase of the night. Tuch's two goals and assist made him the headline, Holl delivered the decisive third-period breakthrough, and Ovechkin quietly moved within two assists of a club record. The Canadiens showed why that firepower will be needed — and why it cannot be the entire plan.
The most encouraging version of this result is that the Capitals found ways to win while still identifying fixable problems. The less encouraging version is that the same defensive openings keep appearing. The next few games will reveal which interpretation is closer to the truth.
