The Washington Capitals took both games of the home and home against the New York Rangers, finishing off the back half in an extra frame 3-2. The Caps needed some help from the Colorado Avalanche against the Philadelphia Flyers to officially clinch a playoff spot, but that help did not come.
The Rangers out-shot the Caps 37 to 33, but were out-attempted by the Caps at five-on-five 46 to 40.
- Shane Gersich was the fifth Capitals rookie this season to make their NHL debut. Gersich was quite possibly the best Caps player on the ice, finishing the night with the best five-on-five shot attempt percentage (68.2 percent) among the forwards.
- Andre Burakovsky‘s goal was the tenth of his season. Many expected much more output from the young Swede this year, but he has now scored double digit goals in each of his last three seasons and that isn’t nothing.
- 35 saves on 37 shots for Braden Holtby, who returned to the starter’s net and looked about as comfortable as he has in quite some time.
- Evgeny Kuznetsov has had six straight multi-point games and his overtime winner was his 25th goal of the season. Kuzy is closing in on the first 80-point season of his career.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com, Hockeystats.ca, NaturalStatTrick.com, and Corsica.hockey.
Full RMNB Coverage of Caps vs Rangers
Featured image: Patrick McDermott
