The New York Rangers scored five unanswered goals against the Washington Capitals to come back from the Capitals’ 2-0 lead and win Tuesday’s game.
The Capitals established a 2-0 lead over the Rangers within the first several minutes of the game. “There’s an awful lot of respect from our end for that team,” said Rangers’ head coach David Quinn after the game.
About two minutes into the first period, the Capitals went on the power play, after Kevin Rooney took a penalty for holding against Nick Jensen.
Capitals’ lead early on
T.J. Oshie received a saucer pass from Nicklas Backstrom and scored, also assisted by John Carlson.
About two minutes later, Nic Dowd scored his seventh goal of the season, establishing that 2-0 lead, with assists from Garnet Hathaway and Brenden Dillon. Officials held discussion after Dowd’s goal and it was later reported that they were making sure the puck crossed the goal line completely, though no announcements were made on the ice.
The Capitals’ Daniel Sprong served two minutes for a “too many men on the ice” penalty, with about seven and a half minutes left in the first period.
Filip Chytil scored the Rangers’ first goal of the game on a breakaway and unassisted. The Capitals had been back at full strength for a minute or more. Chytil took the puck from Dmitry Orlov as soon as he received it and took it all the way to the goal.
The Rangers pulled goaltender, Igor Shesterkin, to add an extra attacker and tie the game before the end of the first period.
Very shortly afterward, the Capitals’ Zdeno Chara took a penalty for slashing against Ryan Strome. There were about 40 seconds left on the clock.
“I think that was a really good effort from us and I think we have more to give,” said the Rangers’ Brendan Smith said between the first and second periods. “We’re going to have a really good second.”
The second period saw great efforts from both teams.
With about seven minutes left in the period, The Rangers’ Phillip Di Giuseppe took a penalty tripping against Backstrom.
Shesterkin works hard on Capitals’ power play
The Capitals made six shots on goal during that power play, including one of Alex Ovechkin’s famous one-timers. Ovechkin had scored 10 goals in his previous nine games.
Shesterkin made several notable saves on the Capitals’ power play and ended up with a total of 30 saves during Tuesday’s game. “Yeah, he’s unbelievable every time he’s in the net. We’re lucky we have a goalie like this,” said Chytil after the game.
The Rangers completed their comeback in the third period, starting with a goal by Kaapo Kakko. Panarin intercepted a pass from Chara, then passed the puck along to Strome, who passed it on to Kakko who was in front of the net, ready to tip the puck into the goal. Strome hit a career-high, 10-game points streak on Tuesday.
Rangers complete come back
Then the Rangers’ Adam Fox scored the game-winning goal – his fourth goal and 30th point of the season – assisted by Panarin and Ryan Lindgren.
Panarin then scored a goal of his own, after recording two assists. Smith got the puck deep in the Capitals’ offensive zone and passed it a long distance to Panarin who was on the far edge of the neutral zone. Panarin then took the puck all the way to the back of the net.
The Capitals got one more power play late in the third period, when Smith took a penalty for cross-checking against Oshie. Smith appeared to have knocked Oshie down with his stick. Oshie’s teammate Tom Wilson then fell on top of him. Oshie went to the bench appearing to be in pain.
With about 30 seconds left in the game, Pavel Buchnevich, assisted by Lindgren, scored a short-handed, empty-net goal, taking the score to its final 5-2.
Very shortly afterward, Wilson took a minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct against Lindgren, as well as a 10-minute major penalty. Officials escorted him off the ice. He had gone over near the Rangers’ bench seemingly quite upset. This instigated much yelling between the two teams.
“The third period – that was ours,” said Chytil after the game.
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