Following a dominant first period, the Rangers carried a lead right till the end to take a much needed pair of points from the Washington Capitals. A much better showing then the last couple games, the Rangers may have found line combinations that work and have the potential to stick as they gear up for the postseason. Not only did the Rangers get the two points they needed but the Devils, Penguins and Islanders all lost which certainly helps the Rangers given their position in the standings.
The Blueshirts wasted no time getting after it as they controlled play right from the start and kept the Capitals without a shot for a good chunk of the early parts of the first. Just four minutes in, Mika Zibanejad put away a perfect pass from Vladimir Tarasenko to make it a 1-0 game. The Rangers got their first power play chance not long after but were unable to capitalize. With about five minutes to go, Nick Aube-Kubel found the back of the net for his fourth of the season off a wrist shot that didn’t even appear to go in given the fact that the puck landed behind the back post. Zibanejad quickly answered to regain the Rangers lead and to keep Mika March going as he snuck a back hander that started from a beautiful cross ice pass from Igor Shesterkin for his first point of the season. 2-1 good guys.
With just under three minutes to go, Aliaksei Protos was sent off for tripping Jimmy Vesey. About a minute later, it was Patrick Kane sending an absolute laser of a slapshot to the back of the net for his 400th power play point, giving Adam Fox his 50th assist on the season. This capped off an all around fantastic period from the Rangers. Each line seemed to be connecting rather well with the Kid Line really buzzing and the fourth line continuing to be among the best in the league at their role. With shots tallying up at 19-9 Rangers, things were looking to be very much in their favor.
Picking right where they left off, the Rangers made it a 4-1 game early in the second when Jacob Trouba buried a wrist shot off a perfect passing sequence from Trocheck and Kane. Later in the period, the Caps began showing signs of life which led to Matt Irwin making it 4-2 just over the midway point of the period. As the game went on, Washington certainly began to increase their pressure and about halfway through the third, Nic Dowd brought them within one. A period that would be less eventful offensively but picked up a bit on the penalty front. Barclay Goodrow and Tom Wilson were sent off earlier for coincidental roughing calls and the Caps got two power plays from penalties Artemi Panarin and Niko Mikkola.
The Rangers held off the Caps and got solid efforts from their penalty killers as time wound down and Laviolette pulled Darcy Kuemper for the extra attacker. Jimmy Vesey quickly put the dagger in Washington’s hope of making this a game as he sent a back hander from the Rangers defensive zone into the wide open net, capping the score off at 5-3. The Caps pulled Kuemper again afterwards but were unable to convert which was very good for my eight total goals prop bet. All in all, can’t complain too much about the Rangers game here. All four lines looked great, the two power play units seem to be clicking and overall, the team looks one Ryan Lindgren return away from being a damn good hockey team. The Blueshirt’s are back at it Thursday Night for the first of two rematches with the Penguins on Garden Ice. Now would be the perfect time for this group to build up a win streak and given how they played last night, they very well could be on the verge of heating up.
Chris Feldman
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