Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images
The Rangers played another solid game this afternoon, but fell just short of taming the red-hot Caps, 4-3 in overtime. The Rangers were down 2-0 coming into the third period on two costly plays, but managed to take the lead in the third with a dramatic comeback. Not to be outdone, the Caps scored dramatically with six seconds left to send the game to overtime.
The outcome for the Rangers was a loss, but it’s hard to look at this game and not feel some kind of happiness in the way they played. Yea, those plays by Dan Girardi were rough, but overall the Rangers skated with the hottest team in the league and were a solid –and partially lucky– stick play in front from taking them down. Them’s the bounces sometimes, and this was far and away their best effort against the Caps all year. They also showed that Holtby is beatable.
As always, you can view the full videos on our video page here. All GIFs are on nyrgifs.com, filtered under the date of the game. On to the goals:
Caps 1, Rangers 0
Assisted by Dan Girardi.
Caps 2, Rangers 0
Justin Williams got behind Girardi and Dominic Moore was just off the bench. Neither could catch Williams, who tucked it under Hank. And yes, that is Girardi at center ice who snow angeled trying to block the pass. Not the best game for him.
Rangers 1, Caps 2
Ryan McDonagh made a solid play to keep the offensive zone, chipping it to Moore along the boards. Moore found Oscar Lindberg cutting to the net, and he one-timed it past Holtby.
Rangers 2, Caps 2
After the Rangers killed a bad penalty by Kevin Hayes, they started a rush up the ice just as Hayes was coming out of the box. Viktor Stalberg cut to the net as Derick Brassard gained the zone. He dropped to McDonagh who put a soft shot on net as Hayes cut to the front. Hayes was there for the rebound to tie it.
Rangers 3, Caps 2
This was a solid shift by the Rangers. First Stalberg gained the zone, then Moore and Keith Yandle made separate plays to keep the zone. The puck eventually got back to Yandle at the point, who put a shot on net as Stalberg cut to the slot. Stalberg got his stick on it with a great deflection to give the Rangers the lead.
Caps 3, Rangers 3
This was a tough one. The Caps had the numbers advantage, and Nick Backstrom was left alone in front. He went uncontested on the rebound to tie it with six seconds left.
Caps 4, Rangers 3
Nate Schmidt made a great play to stop Derek Stepan on the door step, and you knew what was coming next. Ovechkin picked up the puck, went coast to coast, burning Rick Nash and using McDonagh as a screen for the goal. This is just pure talent right here.
Shot Attempts
This was a back and forth game for a while, with the Rangers doing a solid job of limiting the Caps shot attempts. You can only do so much against this team, but not only did they limit attempts, they generated a lot of sustained offense throughout the game. It was no surprise that they eventually broke through, although it was a surprise that they broke through the way they did.
Scoring Chances
Perhaps even more impressive, and a sign of good things over the past few weeks, is the Rangers limited the Caps to just 15 scoring chances in the game. Considering the potent offense, that is just solid play. If they eliminated the mental mistakes, this game could have been different.
Individual Corsi
The bottom six forwards had an absolutely outstanding game, showing how badly the Caps need a few of their players back from injury. But that top line for Washington dominated the Rangers, as they drew Girardi almost all game. Not a good look for Girardi this game.
Shot Locations
Much like mentioned above, the Rangers did a good job of limiting the Caps to the outside on their even strength chances. They also did a good job of getting their own chances from inside. Process is getting better. We’ve seen a few charts like this lately.
Shift Chart
As noted above, Girardi (and McDonagh) drew Ovechkin all game and got completely dominated. That line will dominate most, but this was a particularly bad one for Girardi.
This is another game where the process was right, save for a few gaffes. Gaffes happen, but it does make you wonder what would be if those gaffes were made by someone else. This is a tough stretch of schedule, so hockey .500 is what I was hoping for, and it’s what we are getting right now. Process is key, and when process is right, wins will come.
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