Canadiens Open Up About Brawl With Capitals

A few members of the Montreal Canadiens have opened up about what led to the massive bench brawl in Game 3 against the Washington Capitals.

Apr 25, 2025; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Tussles between Montreal Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher (11) and Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson (43) and forward Pierre-Luc Dubois (80) and Montreal Canadiens forward Cole Caufield (13) during the second period in game three of the first round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images / Eric Bolte-Imagn Images

The Montreal Canadiens may have lost to the Washington Capitals in the first round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, but they made sure to set off some fireworks while they could. In Game 3, as the Canadiens and Capitals were heading to the locker room for the second intermission, a brawl broke out between the two teams.

Scrums broke out between the players, with the peak coming from Canadiens forward Josh Anderson and Capitals forward Tom Wilson mixing it up on the bench. Anderson and Wilson started their fight on the ice, but an open door to the Capitals bench forced their momentum off the playing surface.

The brawl between the Canadiens and Capitals ended up being one of the biggest highlights of the playoffs, but no one really knew why it started. A couple of Canadiens players cleared the air recently on what sparked the melee.

According to Canadiens defenseman Arber Xhekaj, backup goalie Jakub Dobes was chirping and trash talking everyone on the Canadiens all game from his bench.

The huge brawl in Game 3 of the Caps-Canadiens series started because Jakub Dobes wouldn’t stop chirping from the bench before he entered the game 🤣

(via YT/Royal LePage Atlantic Homestead) pic.twitter.com/tHCbzkKadA

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) July 30, 2025

“He’s looking over, he’s chirping every single guy that comes off the ice,” Xhekaj said. “He’s yelling at them, chirping them. Next thing you know, our goalie gets hurt and Doby has to go in. Uh oh.”

After about 11 minutes of the second period, Canadiens starting goalie Sam Montembeault suffered an injury, forcing Dobes to between the pipes for his first career playoff appearance.

“That is true,” Dobes said. “They definitely were not nice to me the first five minutes.”

Xhekaj went on to add more detail about the brawl starting, noting that the Capitals were waiting on the ice to have a few word with Dobes.

“The periods over, so the other team has to skate across the ice and Doby has to skate through all of them,” Xhekaj said. “Nobody left, they just waited for Doby because they wanted to have a word with him. Then I got in there and it was madness.”

Game 3 ended up being the only win the Canadiens had in the series, picking up a 6-3 victory. Dobes was credited with the win, making seven saves on eight shots in his relief effort.

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