Rangers drop first Lindgren Bowl, lose 4-0 in Washington

After three days off, the New York Rangers skated down to the nation’s capital (unless you’re reading this in Canada) to take on the Washington Capitals for the first game of a back-to-back and the first ever Lindgren Bowl. This one was not pretty for New York, as the Capitals rode off easy into the night defeating the Rangers 4-0 and giving the elder Lindgren bragging rights at the next family dinner.

Barclay Goodrow would be declared out of the lineup with an upper-body injury, prompting the team to call up forward Riley Nash to take his spot. Chris Kreider was questionable after an apparent lower-body injury from Tuesday’s game but was declared good to go for the contest.

Igor Shesterkin got the call in net for the Rangers while the Capitals turned to the older Lindgren brother, Charlie to man their crease. Washington didn’t waste any time and pounced on the Rangers early with a Sonny Milano goal just 43 seconds into the first. That would be the only goal scored, as the Rangers only mustered eight shots on goal and finished the period shorthanded, as Jonny Brodzinski was called for holding on Tom Wilson.

The second period did not start well for the Rangers as they failed to clear the puck out of their defensive zone, prompting a turnover and a wide open Evgeni Kuznetsov to find Anthony Mantha leering on Shesterkin to tip in the Capitals second goal at just 1:43 into the second.

Kuznetsov initially looked to shoot but stopped and dished it out to Mantha uncovered to take a 2-0 lead. At 5:35 in the second, the Capitals forced a 2-on-1 with Tom Wilson and Alexander Ovechkin on the rush and ended with Wilson putting one in the back of the net to extend the lead to 3-0.

With 8:08 remaining, the Rangers would turn the puck over again off a strong forecheck from the Capitals, and they would score to make it 4-0. Erik Gustafsson would turn the puck over in his own corner to the right of Shesterkin and it would find an open Nicholas Aube-Kubel to wire it past the Ranger goaltender to extend their lead.

The Rangers would get their first power play chance with 4:33 remaining in the second period, as Rasmus Sandin took down Artemi Panarin. The league’s third-ranked power play failed to generate much with their chance, only featuring a Mika Zibanejad shot off the post.

Towards the end of the second, the Rangers would generate a few chances, including a Panarin shot that hit the post but to no avail. New York would finish the period with 15 shots on goal but none hit the back of the net. After this period, the Rangers would have given up eight goals in their last 15 periods at that point.

The Rangers started the third period in the same way the first two started, slow and disengaged. Jimmy Vesey was hit behind the play around the 16-minute mark by Aube-Kubel, to which Vesey followed him and challenged him to a fight, to which he agreed and both players scrapped. Vesey would get an extra two minutes for instigating, putting Washington back on the power play, but they did not score.

The third period would end without much fanfare as Washington would limit the Rangers to just eight shots as well as handing New York their first two-game losing streak of the season. Charlie Lindgren would get his second shutout of the season saving all 31 shots, while Igor Shesterkin would save 25 of the 29 shots he faced.

The Capitals dominated on the faceoff dot, winning 60.3 percent of the draws, to the Rangers 39.7 percent. New York would go 0-for-1 on the power play, while Washington went 0-for-3. It was another game with a poor collective defensive effort by New York. Bad passes, lethargic plays, and lack of engagement retake hold of the Rangers as they continue to give up high-scoring chances and a lack of high danger chances on Charlie Lindgren on offense.

Washington pressured New York defensively and created strong chances with an active forecheck, all the things the Rangers did not do properly. The only line that generated sustained offense came from the second with Panarin, Trocheck, and Lafreniere. The other three lines did not generate much offensively.

While ruts are generally expected throughout an 82-game season, one only hopes that these ruts don’t turn into craters. So far, the Rangers have done a good job at limiting the damage. This is a perfect time to see how the coaching staff and management handle the situation if it ends up becoming worse than it is right now. Rangers are still a good team and the numbers back that up, we can only be optimistic that this is just a speed bump on the highway to the playoffs.