Recap: Rangers Get Shutout in Washington

After a three day stretch of days off from games, the Rangers were back at it tonight in Washington as they kicked off another back-to-back against the Capitals. While the Rangers had plenty of time to regroup from their loss in Ottawa on Tuesday, the Caps were still fresh off a shootout loss to the Dallas Stars on Thursday Night.

A couple pre game notes: Riley Nash would make his NYR debut slotting in on the fourth line in place of Barclay Goodrow who is injured from taking a puck to the face in Ottawa. This would also be the first time that the Lindgren brothers would play against each other with Ryan’s older brother Charlie getting the start in the opposing net.

1st Period:

Quite the unideal start for the Rangers. It was all Washington off the initial face-off as the Rangers were extremely sloppy on the opening shift, failing to get the puck out of their own zone. After a nice cycle from the Caps, Martin Fehervary fed a pass over to Sonny Milano who was wide open on the blocker side of Igor Shesterkin and had nothing but net to shoot at. The diving effort from Igor wouldn’t be enough, 1-0 Caps.

The Capitals nearly made it a 2-0 game as Tom Wilson whiffed on a puck that landed on the opposite side of Shesterkin after a shot from the slot was turned away and fought off with lots of traffic in front of the net. Alexander Ovechkin had an even better scoring chance after Tom Wilson stripped the puck from Braden Schneider in the Rangers slot that gave Ovechkin an up-close breakaway chance. After cutting to his backhand, the puck hit the post and the Rangers had to fight to keep the puck tucked to the side of the net away from harm to earn a whistle.

Just over the midway point of the first, Alexis Lafrenière had the first real solid scoring chance for the Rangers as he let a one-timer go from the right wing side that was eaten up by Charlie Lindgren. Right off the next face-off, Lafrenière took the puck to the net again and had another chance at the doorstep off a pass from Schneider at the end of that shift. The efforts from Lafrenière helped get the Rangers involved, spending more time in Washington’s zone then they had up to this point but Washington was still pressing, getting just as many chances the other way.

With under twenty seconds to go in the first, Jonny Brodzinski was called for holding which gave Washington the first power play of the game. With not much time to get anything going, the Rangers would hold them off and the Capitals would take the 1-0 lead to the first intermission. After the first twenty, shots were 12-8 in favor of Washington with the Rangers blocking an additional seven shot attempts. Face-offs were split with both teams winning eleven of the 22 draws taken, however it was mainly Washington in control of play early on.

2nd Period:

The second period would begin with the Capitals power play and it was Igor Shesterkin coming up with a massive sliding save on Dylan Strome as TJ Oshie fed him with a pass across the slot. However just as the penalty ended, Evgeny Kuznetsov faked a slapped shot on the right wing side before throwing the puck to Anthony Mantha who was alone in front to redirect the puck past Shesterkin to extend the Caps lead, 2-0.

Again, the Rangers lacked the ability to get any sort of momentum going and sure enough, the Capitals were on top of their game. Tom Wilson and Alex Ovechkin took the puck into the Rangers zone for an odd man rush. Wilson, who had the puck, opted to go with the shot seeing as everyone was likely expecting him to pass to Ovechkin and sure enough, the shot beat Shesterkin to put the Caps up 3-0.

Through the first half of this one, nothing really seemed to be working in the Rangers favor. Offensively, they weren’t finding any success in getting things going and defensively, the mistakes continued to pile on and on. On top of that, it seemed the Rangers were losing practically every puck battle as Washington looked to be the far more dominant team. With just about eight minutes to go in the second, the puck took a redirect off a skate and ended up on the stick of Nicholas Aube-Kubel high in the slot. A simple wrist shot was all it took to find its way to the back of the net and the Capitals went up 4-0.

The Rangers would finally get a chance on the power play as Rasmus Sandin was called for holding with just under four minutes left in the second period. The Capitals were quick to get the puck out of their zone but the Rangers were able to get set up upon reentry. Mika Zibanejad had what was easily the Rangers best chance of the night up to this point as he rang a quick shot off the crossbar which led to the Caps going the other way with it. The Rangers wouldn’t find the back of the net on the man advantage but it did spark some life out of their offense as they maintained the majority of the possession in the final minutes of the period.

Washington would carry a 4-0 lead into the second intermission as the Rangers continued to struggle in every aspect of play. Despite how it may have looked on the scoreboard, the Rangers actually outshot the Caps 15-7 throughout the second period, but it was not helping them out in the slightest. Their opponents were playing well and Charlie Lindgren was having a very respectable night in the opposite crease.

3rd Period:

Early on into the final period of regulation. Jimmy Vesey took a hit up high from Aube-Kubel and ended up challenging him to a fight in an attempt to get something going. After a modest scrap between the two, Vesey went to the Rangers bench for repairs as he was cut from either the hit or the fight. The Rangers were assigned an additional penalty for instigating which would be served by Cuylle to give the Caps their second power play of the night.

Vincent Trocheck had a good chance following a pass from Lafrenière that he sent off the post. While the Rangers were having a pretty lifeless showing, they were getting some tough puck luck in return with at least three shots going off various posts throughout the night.

Vesey wouldn’t be the only one attempting to shift the pace of this game with physicality. Nearing the midway point of the third, the Trouba Train rushed through the station as he laid a huge center ice hit on Sonny Milano in the Rangers own end. Trouba would have a chance as the play went the other way but for the most part, the Rangers still couldn’t figure out a way. Vincent Trocheck would send the Capitals power play unit back out there as he got his stick caught up high on Nick Jensen.

The Rangers would kill off the penalty but not much would change in what became quite a stinker of a night. The Capitals held on to their well established lead which resulted in the Rangers first consecutive loss this season. The Blueshirts now find themselves on a two game losing streak but won’t have much time to dwell on it as they’re right back at it on home ice tomorrow to host the Los Angeles Kings. Charlie Lindgren would take the storyline in the “Battle of the Lindgren’s” as he shutout his brothers team for his fourth of his career and second this season.

Final tally on shots would be 31-29 in favor of New York, but offense would be far from their storyline as they could not contain consistent offensive zone possession time with Washington playing a real strong, all around game. The Rangers also fell off in the face-off dot once again as the Capitals won 60% of draws. Hopefully the quick turnaround time will prove helpful in the Rangers quest to get back on track as they find themselves on the brink of a serious December slump.