Christian Dvorak scored unassisted at 4:17 to give the Canadiens their third straight one-goal lead at 4-3 before Juraj Slafkovsky, the No. 1 pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, made it 5-3 on a pass from Cole Caufield at 13:23.

A fight between Capitals veteran Tom Wilson and Habs' Josh Anderson made its way into Washington's bench. Fans and analysts were stunned by the melee. The Athletic's Lukas Weese posted, "MONTREAL. MAYHEM... A full fracas at the Bell Centre. Old school hockey."

The Capitals and Canadiens each lost their No. 1 goaltender in Game 3 of their first-round series on Friday night. Washington’s Logan Thompson put no weight on his left skate while being helped off after getting run into by teammate Dylan Strome on the same play that put the Canadiens up 5-3 with just over six minutes left in the third period.