Winners, losers from Rangers bitter overtime loss to Capitals

Sam Carrick had two-thirds of a Gordie Howe Hat Trick Wednesday, scoring his sixth goal of the season and shortly after dropping the gloves with Washington forward Brandon Duhaime in a second-period fight. The 33-year-old center extended his point streak to three games and continues to be an extremely productive player in the bottom six, one of GM Chris Drury’s most underrated free-agent acquisitions.

Wilson relishes being the villain in every opposing NHL rink, but especially at MSG. And there he was living up to his heel reputation, agitating all night, trying to goad Matt Rempe into an altercation throughout the game and even before it started in warmups. He bookended his 23-minute outing with an assist on Washington’s game-opening goal by Pierre-Luc Dubois and then by scoring the winner in overtime, his 28th goal chipped past Igor Shesterkin with less than a minute remaining. That was the whole Wilson package on display Wednesday at The Garden.

The Rangers looked slow and unwilling to pull the trigger on the power play against the Capitals. They were 0-for-4, most notably failing to score and managing just one shot on goal during a four-minute double-minor for high-sticking assessed to Ethen Frank at 15:30 of the first period with the score tied 1-1. New York’s scored one power-play goal in its past five games, three in 10, and dropped to 21st in the NHL (19.9 percent).

Artemi Panarin extended his goal streak to three games with his 26th of the season which tied the game 1-1 in the first period. It was a neat redirection as he slid down the middle toward the net. He had a team-high nine shot attempts; and the Rangers had a 13-7 edge in scoring chances with him on the ice in all situations, including a decisive 6-0 in high-danger opportunities, per Natural Stat Trick.

Listen, there’s typically an adjustment period for a player coming over in a mid-season trade. But Juuso Parssinen hasn’t shown much in three games after being acquired from the Colorado Avalanche and his ice-time has dropped in each game, down to a low of 7:46 on Wednesday. Rangers coach Peter Laviolette doesn’t appear to trust the 24-year-old, who hasn’t had a shot on goal in three games and owned an xGF of 28 percent against the Capitals. He gets high marks for standing up for teammate Brennen Othmann in a second-period fight with Matt Roy, but that didn’t end so well when Parssinen was hammered to the ice.

Rangers fans may hate him after two decades of being tortured by him, but Ovechkin is one of the game’s great players and should be appreciated and respected as such. He scored the clutch tying goal on the power play at 10:28 of the third period and led all skaters with five shots on goal and 11 attempts. Ovechkin is now 10 goals shy from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s all-time NHL record (894) and one point away from becoming the 11th NHL player to reach 1,600 points.

Let’s start with the positive: K’Andre Miller made an excellent keep at the left point on an attempted Washington clear in the second period, then quickly assessed the situation and zipped a perfect pass to Carrick, to set up his go-ahead goal to make it 2-1 at 8:05. But Miller didn’t win battles in front when Dubois opened the scoring nor on Ovechkin’s power-play goal. And the Rangers were out-shot 13-5 and out-chanced 15-7 (7-2 high danger) in all situations with Miller on the ice.

This game was played with playoff intensity by each team, a reminder that the Stanley Cup Playoffs are right around the corner, six weeks away. There were 58 combined hits, including 36 by the Rangers, who were led by Othmann (six), Calvin de Haan (five) and Matt Rempe (four). There were 33 blocked shots, 19 by the Capitals. There were two fights, numerous big hits and yapping from each side and plenty of ill will. Not to mention a one-goal game decided in overtime. Give us more of this please.

No matter how much they’ve improved since the New Year, there’s one thing the Rangers cannot seem to do. That’s win three games in a row. Their most recent three-game winning streak was nearly four months ago, Nov. 14-19. They failed again Wednesday. Making it six times since mid-November that the Rangers won two straight only to stumble and miss that third victory in a row.