New York Rangers and Jonathan Quick come up short in 7-4 loss to Capitals
Jonathan Quick’s 400th NHL victory and the New York Rangers’ first back-to-back wins in more than six weeks each will have to wait for another day, thanks to the Washington Capitals.
The Metropolitan Division leaders spotted the Rangers an early goal but got their offense rolling after the midway point of the first period on the way to a 7-4 victory at Capital One Arena on Saturday.
It was the fifth loss in six games and 16th in 21 games for the Rangers (17-20-1), who were coming off a 2-1 win against the Boston Bruins on Thursday and were trying to win consecutive games for the first time since putting up three straight victories from Nov. 14-19.
“We have a challenge, and we’ve just got to accept it and keep working,” center Mika Zibanejad said when asked about how the Rangers can remain confident. “We have no other option. We have no other option than try to stay positive, try to work.”
They wasted their best offensive performance in nearly a month; New York scored more than three goals for the first time in 12 games since a 7-5 home loss to the Seattle Kraken on Dec. 8.
Quick, making back-to-back starts for the first time this season with Igor Shesterkin on injured reserve, made 21 saves but came up short in his bid to become the first U.S.-born goaltender to win 400 games. He also allowed Washington’s Alex Ovechkin to score his eighth goal in their 17 career meetings as Ovi moved within 23 of passing Wayne Gretzky for the most in NHL history.
The Rangers allowed at least five goals for the 13th time this season, the most in the NHL.
Chris Kreider, Sam Carrick, Filip Chytil and Zibanejad scored for the Rangers, who are back in action Sunday afternoon in Chicago for another nationally televised game.
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Washington Capitals 7 — New York Rangers 4
The Rangers came out aggressively pushing the tempo, with the defensemen joining the play much more than in recent weeks. They had the first six shot attempts and outshot the Capitals 6-2 in the first seven minutes. The sixth shot became the game’s first goal, thanks to an egregious misplay by Washington goaltender Logan Thompson.
Caps center Lars Eller got a stick on a Rangers clearing pass, negating what could have been an icing call, so Thompson came out toward the right boards to play the puck. But his attempted breakout pass up the middle missed defenseman Martin Fehervary and came right to Kreider in the high slot. He quickly zipped it into the wide-open net at 7:00 for a 1-0 lead.
“The start was good,” coach Peter Laviolette said.
Washington got the game’s first power play when Will Borgen was called for holding at 8:35 and had three shots on Quick, who was up to the task. But the Caps got even at 1-1 on their second advantage. With Brett Berard off for holding, Dylan Strome knocked in a rebound at 18:46 after Quick survived a wild scramble and then got his pad on a shot from the slot by defenseman Jacob Chychrun. The rebound of that shot came to Strome, who put it into a half-empty net for his first goal in nine games. Strome also had two assists for a three-point afternoon.
That goal appeared to pump some extra zip into the Capitals, who dominated the early stages of the second period and took a 2-1 lead at 2:29 when Fehervary took a harmless-looking wrister from the left point that Eller deflected over Quick’s shoulder, aided by poor coverage in the defensive zone. The Caps kept coming and made it 3-1 at 10:08 when Mangiapane finished off a cross-seam pass from Nic Dowd, capping a play that he started by winning a puck race in the right corner.
It looked like the Rangers had gotten within a goal when Will Cuylle converted a Chytil pass at 13:04. But the Capitals used their timeout to take a closer look for offside on the zone entry and were rewarded when, after a long video review, Berard was judged to have crossed the blue line a split-second before Chytil carried the puck into the zone.
The Rangers did make it 3-2 on Carrick’s first goal since opening night. Ovechkin’s misfired pass in the Washington zone left Carrick alone in front of Thompson; he took one quick stride and snapped a shot into the net at 16:26.
But after Thompson robbed K’Andre Miller and Kreider on a short-handed break, Washington regained its two-goal lead at 18:13 with another power-play goal. With Ryan Lindgren off for shooting the puck over the glass, Strome slid the puck into the slot for Conor McMichael, who one-touched it past Quick for a 4-2 lead.
“The penalty kill is always something you can do better,” said Laviolette, whose team has allowed seven goals on 18 chances in the past five games. “There’s always some sort of coverage or read where you could be better. It’s a little bit of everything. It’s not just the power-play goals — it’s the even-strength goals as well; we gave up four.”
The Rangers had two power plays within the first eight minutes of the third period but came up empty again, dropping them to 1-for-30 in their past 10 games.
Special teams continue to be an issue for the Rangers.
“It’s frustrating,” defenseman Adam Fox said. “A lot of games, that’s the difference, I think. Down one and you get a power play, if you’re able to score it’s a different game. I think everyone would love to have an answer for not getting it going. You look at the score and the special teams and obviously a big difference.”
However, just when it looked like the Rangers might be ready to call it a day, they cut the deficit to 4-3 at 8:32. Urho Vaakanainen’s 100-foot pass from behind the Rangers’ net found Chytil breaking through the defense just before the Washington blue line. Chytil broke in alone and went bar down on Thompson to make it a one-goal game.
But Ovechkin was in the right place at the right time to score his 19th goal in 23 games this season at 10:50. Vincent Trocheck won a draw to the left of Quick, but the puck slid into the slot, where Ovechkin jumped on it and shoveled a backhander past Quick’s pad for a 5-3 lead.
Mika Zibanejad’s goal cut the margin to 5-4 at 13:04, but Aliaksei Protas made it a two-goal game again 56 seconds later, putting home the rebound of Pierre-Luc Dubois’ shot off the post.
Ovechkin added an assist when he sprung Tom Wilson for a game-clinching empty-netter with 38 seconds remaining.
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