rangers capitals

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

The Rangers couldn’t stay out of the box last night, shooting themselves in the foot in what was otherwise a well played game at even strength. The Caps scored twice with the man advantage, and those goals wound up being the difference in the game. But this is why they are the Caps. They make you take penalties and then make you pay. It’s not just the powerplay goals, it’s that the Rangers can’t generate any momentum when they are killing penalties.

Justin Williams recorded a hat trick, showing that he is the true Ranger killer. No matter what team he is on, he finds a way to burn the Rangers on an almost nightly basis. Antti Raanta played well, and you can’t really fault him for any of the goals given up. He also made what will probably be his save of the year.

I thought the Rangers had a shot when they pulled to within one with Braden Holtby out of the game, but then the Miller turnover happened.

As always, you can view the full videos on our video page here. All GIFs are on nyrgifs.comfiltered under the date of the game. On to the goals:

Rangers 1, Caps 0

Derek Stepan won the faceoff clean to Ryan McDonagh, who waited while Chris Kreider cut to the slot. A simple wrist shot and a deflection later, it was in the net.

Caps 1, Rangers 1

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Derick Brassard took a pretty bad penalty, and you can only do that so much against the Caps. Alex Ovechkin made them pay, as Dylan McIlrath went down a bit too early, giving Ovi room to cut back for a better angle and beat Antti Raanta through the legs.

Caps 2, Rangers 1

johanssen goal

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Another powerplay goal for the Caps. On this one, Jesper Fast didn’t slide over to cover the pass to Ovi, which forced Girardi to do so. With Girardi out of position, Marcus Johanssen was wide open at the back door, and Nick Backstrom hit him with the pass before he could get back.

Caps 3, Rangers 1

williams goal

Simply put, no one was on Justin Williams in front. A lot of issues with clearing the net in this game.

Rangers 2, Caps 3

Kreider got in on the forecheck and poked the puck to Rick Nash along the boards. Nash basically did the rest here, driving to the net and drawing a pair of Caps to him while Kreider got to the slot. Kreider collected the puck and finished the play.

Caps 4, Rangers 2

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J.T. Miller basically gifted this goal to Williams. Bad pass that fluttered off his stick led to a turnover, then the Rangers scrambled and no one picked up Williams.

Caps 5, Rangers 2

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I guess Brass wanted to help Williams get the hat trick here?

Shot Attempts

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This game, when at even strength, wasn’t really a terrible game for the Rangers. The problem was that they took some bad penalties, and that’s when the Caps took advantage.

Scoring Chances

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Same as above. At even strength when the Rangers weren’t taking penalties, it was a pretty close game. The score difference was on special teams.

Individual Corsi

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Not the best showing from Staal/Girardi here. Same goes for the fourth line. Part of that has to do with matchups and/or deployment though.

Shot Locations

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The Rangers had issues clearing the front of the net all game, which is how the Caps scored their even strength goals. But they did a good job of limiting the quantity of scoring chances. They need to button up a few holes, for sure, but overall not a bad defensive effort against a high powered offense.

Shift Chart

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The Staal/Girardi pairing drew Ovechkin all night. The takeaway here is that this is the matchup Barry Trotz wanted to have. The Caps had last change and had the option of getting Ovi away from them. He did not. That speaks volumes about that pair’s effectiveness.

This is the second good showing at even strength in a row against the Caps. It’s another process win, but a discipline fail. Discipline was the issue here. If the Rangers play like this at even strength and manage to keep the penalties in check, then they will be difficult to play against.

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