The Rangers followed up their big 9-0 win with a strong performance in Washington however, fell short in the games final period. The Rangers came out dominant in this one, controlling the play, generating offense but just couldn't crack Vitek Vanicek. Until late in the first when the Rangers took to the power play and Artemi Panarin let a beautiful shot go off a feed from Ryan Strome. The first period would dwindle down and the score was 1-0 good guys.
Much of the same play continued in the second, despite getting off to an usual start when the puck deflected into the Rangers bench, hitting a player in the face. Which player you ask? You guessed it! Ryan Lindgren. Is it really a game if Lindgren doesn't shed some blood? Luckily he would return after missing only a shift or two and his presence was definitely noticed after laying a huge body check on Alexander Ovechkin. Of course Lindgren had a huge target on his back for the rest of the game, most notably from Caps defenseman Brendan Dillon who would later get matching penalties with Brendan Lemieux for almost fighting. Much of the same momentum from the first period continued and we headed into the final period with the same score.
Vitek Vanicek really stood on his head in this game. The score could've easily been 5-0 if it wasn't for some stellar saves in the games first two periods. He would really be the difference maker for this Washington team going into the games final minutes, stopping 33 shots by the New York Rangers. Those 33 shots accounted for outshooting Washington in each period of the game.
On to the third we go and again, much of the same hockey game was being played. This was until about halfway through the period the Capitals seemed to have picked up their game. With seven minutes to go, Evgeny Kuznetsov took a shot off the of Georgiev that went right to Ovechkin's stick for a rebound to tie the game up, a huge momentum twist to the game. About three minutes later, almost the same exact play except this time it was John Carlson taking the shot with Ovie cashing in on the rebound.
The Rangers tried to come back from that but there just was not enough time and they could not generate the offense they were for the majority of the game. Unfortunately, this is just an example of where experience kicks in. This young Rangers team played near perfect hockey for 60 minutes but let it slip for a fraction of that and walked away with an L.
Luckily, they don't have to wait long to get back at it as the two face off again tonight at 7pm. There is talk that Igor Sheshterkin may be ready for a return so look for that to jolt this Rangers team if that is the case. If not, it's pretty much a coin toss as to who will take the Rangers net, could very well be Kinkaid since it's back to back games, could be Georgiev who played well minus the two rebound goals in the third. The Rangers could also look to get Gauthier back in the line up in place of Blackwell or Howden. Either way, the Rangers don't have much to hang their heads on, but do have a reason to have a chip on their shoulder going into this game. Look for them to have another strong night but perhaps with some more urgency coming off that tough loss.
Chris Feldman
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