Montreal Canadiens winger Josh Anderson is one of the most sandpapery players in the NHL. During the playoffs, he irritated Tom Wilson so much that the ice couldn’t contain the pair’s brawl, and the two power forwards tried to fight each other on the Capitals bench as a referee hung on for dear life.
In the Capitals and Candiens’ first meeting of the 2025-26 regular season, Anderson may have bit off more than he could chew with Alex Ovechkin, who, while not as ornery, once knocked out a man in three punches.
During Thursday’s game with 13 seconds to go, Anderson got in a netfront battle with the game’s greatest goal-scorer. Anderson shoved Ovechkin three times before going to the next level and trying to break his right arm with a cross-check. As we know, steel doesn’t break 99.9 percent of the time, so a starting-to-get-more-and-more irate Ovechkin returned fire with a spear to the abdomen that may have missed its lower and more intended target. Anderson, though, wasn’t done and cross-checked Ovi in the stomach, turning the situation from a skirmish to a conflict only hands could solve.
Ovechkin, with malice in his eyes, made a beeline towards Anderson, appearing to consider a fight, but before things could get face-puncherous, Dylan Strome entered at a high rate of speed to aggressively hug the Habs enforcer and take him far away from his captain.
While Strome kept Ovechkin from getting more than a two-minute slashing penalty, he also did something else unintentionally, according to TJ Oshie.
Responding to a Spittin’ Chiclets tweet that Dylan Strome just saved Josh Anderson’s life, Oshie replied Truth.
And frankly, I agree. While it’s only one word on my least favorite social media site, I love how TJ is still laser-focused on the Capitals and being supportive with his vast platform.
