Rangers Vs. Capitals Game 2 Recap: Special Teams Cost Rangers Once Again

The New York Rangers were victims of themselves this afternoon as they dropped Game 2 in overtime, by a score of 1-0. Henrik Lundqvist should get all the credit in the world, as he single handily kept the Rangers in this game all afternoon. There's one thing that he can't do, and that's score goals. The Rangers were a bust once again on the power play, and blew five different opportunities to put the puck in the back of the net.

The Rangers were much better in the beginning of this game, and had an early opportunity from Anton Stralman, as he rang a point shot off of the crossbar. That quick start slowly washed away as the Capitals hounded the Rangers all afternoon in the offensive zone, and controlled a majority of this game. Without the stellar play from Henrik Lundqvist, this game could have easily gotten out of hand pretty early.

This game was nerve wracking from start to finish, as the Rangers were constantly faced with having defend against the Capitals quick, and more up-tempo transition game. There were some major controversy late in the third period, as the referee's apparently missed a blatant delay of game call on Karl Alzner. Alzner wound up chopping the puck in order to keep it away from Derek Dorsett, and wound up knocking the puck out of play. There was no contact with Dorsett, the glass, or anything else. It was a clean swat at the puck, and it flew out of play.

After the game, the NHL released a statement on why it wasn't rule a penalty. The reasoning behind it was that the puck was deflected, rather than being shot out of play by Alzner. Since when is taking a swat at the puck ruled as a deflection? Either way, the Rangers would get their opportunity shortly after as Rick Nash powered to the net, and was slashed pretty hard by Troy Brouwer. Nash also dinged the post with the shot, as they went to the power play with about four minutes left in regulation.

Failed power play after power play came back to haunt the Rangers, as another attempt went by in overtime. Trouble struck later on in overtime as Ryan McDonagh, who was still on the ice after a three minute shift, lofted the puck over the glass, and took the delay of game penalty. At this point in the game, the Rangers were pretty much running on fumes, and were throwing their bodies at everything on the penalty kill.

The puck eventually found it's way up to Mike Riberio, who set up a soft cross ice feed to Mike Green, who ripped it off of the post, and in behind Henrik Lundqvist. You honestly have to question the decision made by John Tortorella to keep McDonagh on for that long of a shift, as it quickly came back to kill the Rangers.

Either way, the Rangers find themselves in a pretty deep 2-0 hole as they head back to Madison Square Garden for Game's 3 and 4. If the Rangers truly want to keep competitive, and move on in the Playoffs, they need to use their home ice to their advantage.

Believe.