Not a bad night for the native of Laval, Quebec, a suburb just three miles across the river from Montreal. Theodore grew up steeped in the tradition of hockey’s most storied franchise. And while he would not gloat afterwards it was clear, too, this was not just another win.

“Last game I played [against Montreal] was not a fun game,” said Theodore, who endured an eight-goal nightmare while with the Colorado Avalanche the first time he faced the Canadiens as a former player on Oct. 21, 2006 in Montreal. “I played 500 games with them, but you’ve got to turn the page. Tonight I just wanted to help my team win a game.”

It was Theodore’s first shutout of the season as he finished with 28 saves — the second game in a row the Caps have held an opponent under 30 shots on goal.

“I was seeing the puck well in the first period,” Theodore said. “Even though I didn’t get a lot of shots early on I knew I would need a good shot to beat me. The guys did a great job. I was seeing the puck and I was able to react.”

It was an impressive pair of home wins for Washington (13-7-3), including Wednesday’s 5-3 victory over Atlanta, considering over half the Caps’ original blueline is missing. Mike Green (shoulder), Tom Poti (groin), John Erskine (undisclosed) and Jeff Schultz (broken finger) are all injured. With rookies Karl Alzner and Sami Lepisto already called up from AHL affiliate Hershey, the Caps added veteran defenseman Bryan Helmer, 36, to the roster Friday morning. He had not played in an NHL game since 2004. The Caps were also missing forwards Sergei Fedorov (ankle), Alex Semin (back) and Chris Clark (broken arm). Forward Boyd Gordon (back spasms) returned after missing the Atlanta game.

“With guys out of the lineup certain guys like myself are getting a little more ice time,” said forward David Steckel, who added his fourth goal in the third period. “You can’t say enough about [the recent call-ups]. They came to play.”

The Caps again had a good start at Verizon Center, where they are now 9-0-1 this year. A terrible breakout pass by Montreal defenseman Francis Bouillon led to the game’s first goal. Standing behind his own net, Bouillon attempted a pass up ice. It went about three feet before Caps forward Tomas Fleischmann stopped it with the blade of his stick. A pass to teammate Michael Nylander was quickly returned and Fleischmann buried his shot into an open net for a 1-0 lead at 11 minutes, 3 seconds of the first period. It was his ninth goal.

“Fleischmann is doing that kind of thing this year,” said Caps coach Bruce Boudreau. “That’s something we practice all the time. He read it right and [Nylander] gave it back to him. Great play.”

From there the injury-depleted Caps were in control. Left wing Alex Ovechkin added to the lead at 3:42 of the second period, driving hard along the goal line left of the net and somehow slipping a shot under the pads of Montreal goalie Jaroslav Halak (27 saves). It was Ovechkin’s 13th goal and 25th point in his last 12 games.

A key moment came midway through the third period when the Caps had a 5-on-3 power play for 1:42. They failed to score, however, potentially giving the Canadiens life. But Washington completed a line change and also kept the puck deep in the offensive zone for another minute. Lepisto fired a pass at Steckel’s stick and the deflection sailed past Halak for a 3-0 lead with 11:14 to play. Theodore did the rest.

“Before the game, [Theodore] didn’t talk,” said Ovechkin. “He just concentrated on game. He played unbelievable. When we have good defense and good goaltending we play well like we did tonight.”  

Caps Notes

» A boisterous group of Montreal fans made up a decent portion of the Verizon Center crowd on Friday night. Before pregame warm-ups a few dozen congregated by the tunnel where the Canadiens entered the ice, holding a “This Way Ryan” sign with an arrow pointing towards Montreal’s goal.

That was in reference to the own goal scored by defenseman Ryan O’Byrne against the New York Islanders on Monday night. With Canadiens goalie Carey Price off the ice for an extra attacker during a delayed penalty call, O’Byrne slid a pass back towards his own net, thinking Price would be there to receive it. Instead, he watched in horror as the puck slid into the goal. That gaff tied the game at 3 with just 4:47 left to go and the Canadiens lost in a shootout. The fans at Bell Center whistled and booed for several minutes and derisively chanted O’Byrne’s name as his team filed off the ice. Friday’s message at Verizon Center appeared good-natured — we think.

» The Caps have been completely decimated by injuries with seven players from the Opening Night roster out. But Montreal had some health problems of its own. Rugged defenseman Mike Komisarek (shoulder) is out for a month while enforcer Georges Laraque (groin) missed his third straight game and Alex Tanguay (neck) sat as well. Meanwhile, wingers Alex Kovalev (undisclosed) and Guillaume Latendresse (shoulder) and defenseman Josh Gorges (knee) played at less than full strength.

» Caps forward Tomas Fleischmann now has points in a career-best four straight games and in seven of his last eight (five goals, seven assists).

» Left wing Alex Ovechkin extended his own point-scoring streak to 10 games, the longest current streak in the NHL. He leads the league in scoring this month with 25 points.

» Average attendance at Verizon Center jumped again after a second consecutive sell-out crowd of 18,277. Through 10 home games, the Caps are averaging 17,862, the best mark in franchise history. That is a 29.1 percent increase from last season (13,389). The Montreal game was the fourth sellout.