MONTREAL — The NHL has punished the main combatants in a bench-clearing altercation in Friday night’s playoff game between the Montreal Canadiens and Washington Capitals.Capitals forward Tom Wilson and Canadiens forward Josh Anderson were each fined $5,000 by the league.It’s the maximum allowable under the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement.Wilson and Montreal defenseman Arber Xhekaj were pushing and shoving each other as time expired in the second period.Anderson intervened before falling backward into Washington’s bench, which had a door open.The 6-foot-4, 225-pound Wilson followed the 6-foot-3, 226-pound Anderson in and charged through a linesman toward the Canadiens winger before a roaring crowd at Bell Centre.Both Anderson and Wilson were assessed a minor penalty for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct for the fight.Their fine money goes to the players’ emergency assistance fund.

The melee began late in the second period when Wilson hit Jake Evans, prompting retaliation from Ivan Demidov. Xhekaj and Wilson then tried to engage but were separated by officials. Moments later, Josh Anderson fought Wilson at the Capitals’ bench, leading to game misconducts and additional roughing penalties.

Washington Capitals' Tom Wilson and Montreal Canadiens' Josh Anderson got into a period-ending brawl on a team bench that sparked more fights during the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Christian Dvorak broke a tie at 4:17 of the third period and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Washington Capitals 6-3 on Friday night to cut their deficit in the first-round series to 2-1. Dvorak fired shot from the far left side that hit Washington forward Brandon Duhaime and deflected past goalie Logan Thompson.

Andrew Mangiapane scored the go-ahead goal with 3:37 remaining in the third period and the visiting Washington Capitals beat the Montreal Canadiens 5-2 in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference first-round series on Sunday night.