In Game 6 of the second round of the NHL playoffs, it didn’t take the New York Rangers long to put the Washington Capitals in a deep hole and send Capitals fans into a frenzy.
Just 40 seconds into the contest, Rangers left winger Chris Kreider turned on the afterburners and beat Caps defenseman Matt Niskanen down the right side of the Verizon Center ice. Kreider then bodied Niskanen out and put the puck past Washington goaltender Braden Holtby (24 saves).
With 3.4 seconds remaining in the period, Washington right winger Troy Brouwer took a very undisciplined penalty. Right off the ensuing face-off, New York scored. It was Kreider again and he scored with just 0.3 left in the first period.
Capitals left winger Jason Chimera pulled a page out of the New York Rangers book when he scored just 28 seconds into the second period to make it a 2-1 game and give some life to his team.
Washington ended up outshooting the Rangers 18-4 in the second period but mustered only one goal. Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist (42 saves) was magnificent in the second period making some incredibly athletic saves.
Rangers left winger Rick Nash got just his second goal of the playoffs 54 seconds into the third period and gave New York a 3-1 lead.
“Obviously we’d like to have a redo of the first minute of every period it seems,” Washington Head Coach Barry Trotz said following the 4-3 loss, obviously referring to the early-in-the-period goals.
Defenseman Dan Boyle made it a 4-1 game for the Rangers just 3:30 later.
Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov got the home team back within two scores 7:40 into the third period. From there, right winger Joel Ward made it a one-goal game with 9:27 left in the third period.
“We showed a lot of resiliency to fight back. This team has a lot of character,” Trotz said.
“We played bad in the first period but we played better in the third period,” Kuznetsov said. “That was a very important moment for us.”
The center leads the Capitals in goals in the 2015 postseason with five.
In the second and third periods, the Capitals held the Rangers to just eight shots combined. They outshot New York 45-28 throughout the entire game.
For the final 9:27 of the game, the Capitals turned on the heat in an attempt to tie the game and force overtime. This included a delay-of-game/puck-over-glass “penalty” on the Rangers with 2:44 left. However, a replay clearly showed the puck hitting the glass first and then exiting the rink into the penalty box area. NHL rules on the infraction state that if the puck makes contact with the glass, it is not a violation.
Still, the call was made. It may have been a gift to the Capitals from the hockey gods late in a crucial one-goal game.
Washington also pulled Holtby to make it six-on-four during the man advantage. The Capitals couldn’t convert however with Holtby pulled, which made the Caps 0-for-4 on the power play in Game 6. Lundqvist was a brick wall that wouldn’t collapse.
“You have to stay positive and find a way to beat these guys,” Kuznetsov said. “This is a good team. They played in the final last year. We just have to play our game like we did in the third period. We have to focus on this [next] game. We lost but life is not over.”
“You haven’t seen our best game yet and we are going to need it for Game 7,” Trotz remarked.
The Washington Capitals have previously been up 3-1 in a series four times in the franchise’s history and ended up losing the series in seven games. They will be looking to avoid losing a fifth series Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m.
The Caps are also playing their fifth straight series that has required seven games, dating back to the 2011-2012 Eastern Conference Semifinals against the New York Rangers.
If anyone thought that when Washington took a 3-1 series lead after Game 4, this was going to be an easy team to beat, Caps defenseman Brooks Orpik has something to say about that.
“It took the third period of Game 7 to beat the Islanders,” Orpik said after the loss. “With all due respect to them, this [New York squad] is a better team.”
On numerous occasions this season, Trotz has compared left winger Alex Ovechkin — his team’s captain — to the Rangers’ captain and Hall of Famer, Mark Messier. Ovechkin may make history like Messier did in 1994 (the last time the Rangers won the Stanley Cup) by guaranteeing a win in a pivotal game.
“We will come back and win this series,” Washington’s captain stated.
Ovechkin and center Nicklas Backstrom have been held without a point in four straight playoff games… career firsts for the 10-year veterans.
“We know we have to step up,” Ovechkin said as well. “We know we have to play better.”
“There is great disappointment we didn’t get [a series-clinching win] today in front of our fans,” Trotz summarized.