Canadiens' Nick Suzuki, HC Martin St Louis breakdown how team "weathered the storm" of playoff intensity in Game 1 loss to Capitals 

The Montreal Canadiens lost 3-2 in overtime to the Washington Capitals in Game 1 of their playoff series on Monday. Alex Ovechkin, who broke Wayne Gretzky's all-time goal record earlier this month, scored the game-winning goal at 2:26 of overtime.

The Canadiens had tied the game in the third period with goals from Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki. It was a great comeback effort with two back to back goals, but they failed to get the win in overtime. Despite the loss, the team felt they handled the pressure well.

Montreal's captain, Nick Suzuki, said the Capitals came out fast and aggressive early in the game.

"They’re bringing a lot of pressure early," Suzuki said postgame. "I think we were kind of fumbling it around for the first 10 minutes. I think once we settled down, started making plays, we started to beat that pressure a little bit and getting more offense out of it. You take little things after every single game in the series and we’ll watch the video and see what we can do better."

(from 1:42 mark onwards)

Head coach Martin St. Louis said the team expected to feel pressure early in the game. But he appreciated the way the Canadiens fought back.

"A start that we knew we were probably going to have to weather the storm and feel what that feels like — the pressure, the physicality, the pace of the game," St. Louis said. "But I felt like we caught up to it and we started executing more. We spent more time in the O-zone."

(from 18:26 mark onwards)

"We got better as the game went on," he added. "I feel like in terms of what we tried to do out there tonight, I thought it was a pretty good first game... Unfortunately, you don't win, but we got some really good stuff from this game."

Montreal Canadiens were down 2-0 entering the third period

Alex Ovechkin opened the scoring with a powerplay goal late in the first period before Anthony Beauvillier made it 2-0 for the Capitals midway through the second period.

Caufield scored on the powerplay to make it 2-1 in the third before Suzuki tied the game with a wrist shot after a scramble in front with nearly five minutes left in the game.

Sam Montembeault made 29 saves for Montreal on the night, while Logan Thompson made 33 for Washington. Game 2 of the series will be on Wednesday at Capital One Arena.