Brandon Duhaime scores 2 as the Capitals beat the Canadiens 5-2 to take a 3-1 series lead

MONTREAL (AP) — Andrew Mangiapane scored the go-ahead goal with just under four minutes remaining, Brandon Duhaime had two goals and Logan Thompson made 16 saves to lead the Washington Capitals to a 5-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday night for a 3-1 lead in the first-round series.

The teams head back to Washington, where the Capitals won the first two games, for Game 5 on Wednesday night.

Dylan Strome had a goal and assist and Tom Wilson also scored for the Capitals.

“The building is erupting, you’re going to deal with that if you’re going to win a playoff series, you’re going to have to overcome adversity," Washington coach Spencer Carbery said. “That was a prime example tonight of us being able to do that.”

Juraj Slafkovsky and Cole Caufield scored for Montreal. Ivan Demidov and Lane Hutson each had two assists. Jakub Dobes made 21 saves.

“It’s a resilient group and we knew we had to win a game there, so we’re going to do that,” Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said. “We’ll keep extending this series.”

Mangiapane picked up a drop pass at the blue line and beat Dobes on the glove side as Washington rallied from a 2-1 deficit entering the third period.

Thompson returned to the lineup and had a strong game after exiting with an injury late in Game 3. Teammate Dylan Strome crashed into his goaltender on Montreal’s fifth goal Friday, and Thompson needed to be helped off the ice.

Dobes was making his first career playoff start. The 23-year-old from Czechia replaced injured starter Sam Montembeault midway through the second period in Game 2. Montembeault is considered day-to-day with a lower-body injury.

The Canadiens defeated the Capitals 6-3 in a chaotic Game 3 — the first playoff game at the sold out Bell Centre since 2017 — in a matchup that included a bench brawl and both starting goalies sustaining injuries.

Duhaime tied it at 2 at 6:39 of the third period after a couple fortunate bounces on his shot at the side of the net. The goal followed a massive hit by Wilson on defenseman Alexandre Carrier, who later left the game.

“Completely changed the momentum in the game,” Carbery said. “Everybody in here knows how impactful he is, how unique he is."

Slafkovsky tied it on a power play at 10:33 of the second, finishing a feed from Demidov and a secondary assist from Hutson.

Caufield made it 2-1 at 18:32 with another power-play goal, beating Thompson on a one-timer.

After a sloppy first period, Strome capitalized on a couple of Canadiens mistakes and opened the scoring 1:25 into the second.

AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/NHL

Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes (75) makes a save against Washington Capitals' Connor McMichael (24) during the second period of Game 4 in an NHL hockey first-round playoff series in Montreal, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)

Montreal Canadiens' Christian Dvorak (28) and Washington Capitals' Andrew Mangiapane (88) battle by the boards during the second period of Game 4 in an NHL hockey first-round playoff series in Montreal, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)

Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes (75) stops a shot by Washington Capitals' Anthony Beauvillier (72) during the second period of Game 4 in an NHL hockey first-round playoff series in Montreal, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)

Washington Capitals goaltender Logan Thompson, right, watches Montreal Canadiens' Josh Anderson (17) and Capitals' John Carlson (74) vie for the puck during the first period of Game 4 in an NHL hockey first-round playoff series in Montreal, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)

Montreal Canadiens' Kaiden Guhle, bottom, is checked by Washington Capitals' Brandon Duhaime (22) during the first period of an NHL hockey playoff game in Montreal on Sunday, April 27, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)

Washington Capitals' Dylan Strome (17) celebrates after his goal against the Montreal Canadiens during the second period of Game 4 in an NHL hockey first-round playoff series in Montreal, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)

Washington Capitals' Dylan Strome (17) celebrates his goal over the Montreal Canadiens during the second period of an NHL playoff game in Montreal, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)

Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes (75) stops a shot as Washington Capitals' Andrew Mangiapane (88) comes in for a rebound during the second period of Game 4 in an NHL hockey first-round playoff series in Montreal, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)

Washington Capitals' Alex Ovechkin (8) celebrates as teammate Andrew Mangiapane (88) scores against Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes (75) during the third period of Game 4 in an NHL hockey first-round playoff series in Montreal, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)

U.S. President Donald Trump wants to own Greenland. He has repeatedly said the United States must take control of the strategically located and mineral-rich island, which is a semiautonomous region that's part of NATO ally Denmark.

Officials from Denmark, Greenland and the United States met Thursday in Washington and will meet again next week to discuss a renewed push by the White House, which is considering a range of options, including using military force, to acquire the island.

Trump said Friday he is going to do “something on Greenland, whether they like it or not.”

If it's not done “the easy way, we're going to do it the hard way," he said without elaborating what that could entail. In an interview Thursday, he told The New York Times that he wants to own Greenland because “ownership gives you things and elements that you can’t get from just signing a document.”

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that an American takeover of Greenland would mark the end of NATO, and Greenlanders say they don't want to become part of the U.S.

This is a look at some of the ways the U.S. could take control of Greenland and the potential challenges.

Trump and his officials have indicated they want to control Greenland to enhance American security and explore business and mining deals. But Imran Bayoumi, an associate director at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, said the sudden focus on Greenland is also the result of decades of neglect by several U.S. presidents towards Washington's position in the Arctic.

The current fixation is partly down to “the realization we need to increase our presence in the Arctic, and we don’t yet have the right strategy or vision to do so,” he said.

If the U.S. took control of Greenland by force, it would plunge NATO into a crisis, possibly an existential one.

While Greenland is the largest island in the world, it has a population of around 57,000 and doesn't have its own military. Defense is provided by Denmark, whose military is dwarfed by that of the U.S.

It's unclear how the remaining members of NATO would respond if the U.S. decided to forcibly take control of the island or if they would come to Denmark's aid.

“If the United States chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops,” Frederiksen has said.

Trump said he needs control of the island to guarantee American security, citing the threat from Russian and Chinese ships in the region, but “it's not true” said Lin Mortensgaard, an expert on the international politics of the Arctic at the Danish Institute for International Studies, or DIIS.

While there are probably Russian submarines — as there are across the Arctic region — there are no surface vessels, Mortensgaard said. China has research vessels in the Central Arctic Ocean, and while the Chinese and Russian militaries have done joint military exercises in the Arctic, they have taken place closer to Alaska, she said.

Bayoumi, of the Atlantic Council, said he doubted Trump would take control of Greenland by force because it’s unpopular with both Democratic and Republican lawmakers, and would likely “fundamentally alter” U.S. relationships with allies worldwide.

The U.S. already has access to Greenland under a 1951 defense agreement, and Denmark and Greenland would be “quite happy” to accommodate a beefed up American military presence, Mortensgaard said.

For that reason, “blowing up the NATO alliance” for something Trump has already, doesn’t make sense, said Ulrik Pram Gad, an expert on Greenland at DIIS.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a select group of U.S. lawmakers this week that it was the Republican administration’s intention to eventually purchase Greenland, as opposed to using military force. Danish and Greenlandic officials have previously said the island isn't for sale.

It's not clear how much buying the island could cost, or if the U.S. would be buying it from Denmark or Greenland.

Washington also could boost its military presence in Greenland “through cooperation and diplomacy,” without taking it over, Bayoumi said.

One option could be for the U.S. to get a veto over security decisions made by the Greenlandic government, as it has in islands in the Pacific Ocean, Gad said.

Palau, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands have a Compact of Free Association, or COFA, with the U.S.

That would give Washington the right to operate military bases and make decisions about the islands’ security in exchange for U.S. security guarantees and around $7 billion of yearly economic assistance, according to the Congressional Research Service.

It's not clear how much that would improve upon Washington's current security strategy. The U.S. already operates the remote Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, and can bring as many troops as it wants under existing agreements.

Greenlandic politician Aaja Chemnitz told The Associated Press that Greenlanders want more rights, including independence, but don't want to become part of the U.S.

Gad suggested influence operations to persuade Greenlanders to join the U.S. would likely fail. He said that is because the community on the island is small and the language is “inaccessible.”

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen summoned the top U.S. official in Denmark in August to complain that “foreign actors” were seeking to influence the country’s future. Danish media reported that at least three people with connections to Trump carried out covert influence operations in Greenland.

Even if the U.S. managed to take control of Greenland, it would likely come with a large bill, Gad said. That’s because Greenlanders currently have Danish citizenship and access to the Danish welfare system, including free health care and schooling.

To match that, “Trump would have to build a welfare state for Greenlanders that he doesn’t want for his own citizens,” Gad said.

Since 1945, the American military presence in Greenland has decreased from thousands of soldiers over 17 bases and installations to 200 at the remote Pituffik Space Base in the northwest of the island, Rasmussen said last year. The base supports missile warning, missile defense and space surveillance operations for the U.S. and NATO.

U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance told Fox News on Thursday that Denmark has neglected its missile defense obligations in Greenland, but Mortensgaard said that it makes “little sense to criticize Denmark,” because the main reason why the U.S. operates the Pituffik base in the north of the island is to provide early detection of missiles.

The best outcome for Denmark would be to update the defense agreement, which allows the U.S. to have a military presence on the island and have Trump sign it with a “gold-plated signature,” Gad said.

But he suggested that's unlikely because Greenland is “handy” to the U.S president.

When Trump wants to change the news agenda — including distracting from domestic political problems — “he can just say the word ‘Greenland' and this starts all over again," Gad said.

CORRECT THE ORDER OF SPEAKERS, FILE - Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, right, and Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen, left, speak on April 27, 2025, in Marienborg, Denmark. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP, File)

FILE - Danish military forces participate in an exercise with hundreds of troops from several European NATO members in the Arctic Ocean in Nuuk, Greenland, Sept. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)

President Donald Trump listens as he was speaking with reporters while in flight on Air Force One, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, as returning to Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen arrives for a meeting of the Coalition of the Willing at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, Tuesday, Jan.6, 2026. (Yoan Valat, Pool photo via AP)

FILE - A plane carrying Donald Trump Jr. lands in Nuuk, Greenland, Jan. 7, 2025. (Emil Stach/Ritzau Scanpix via AP, file)