New York Rangers

Caps beat Rangers 3-2 in Sunday shootout with a weird finish

The Washington Capitals spent their Sunday afternoon in midtown Manhattan, playing an uneven game against the Rangers. There was a lot of good and new stuff in Washington’s game, but also way too much of the same old silliness.

The Caps – and tell me if you’ve heard this one before – allowed the game’s first goal in the first minute, with a defensive turnover setting up Ryan Strome. The third line responded with a goal from Carl Hagelin, his first for Washington. Halfway into the first period, Andre Burakovsky got the fourth line involved, turning a commanding carry-in into the go-ahead goal.

That lead disappeared late in the second period, when the Caps couldn’t beat Georgiev and then Pavel Buchnevich was left open. A tight third period gave us no decision, so off we went to overtime, which was bad for my hypertension and told us nothing new.

Shootout bullets!

• Shattenkirk put the biscuit in the basket
• Oshie put the biscuit in the basket
• Zibanejad did NOT put the biscuit in the basket
• Kuznetsov did NOT put the biscuit in the basket
• Deangelo put the biscuit in the basket
• Backstrom put the biscuit in the basket
• Chytil did NOT put the biscuit in the basket
• Ovechkin did NOT put the biscuit, but it counted anyway because Georgiev threw his stick, that’s…. I guess… how it ends?

Caps win.

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Good to be back: Caps beat Rangers 6-5 (OT)

The Washington Capitals have finally returned home to Capital One Arena, and their first game back was a qualified triumph over the New York Rangers.

The game kicked off quickly with a goal from Chris Kreider in the first 21 seconds. The Capitals looked sleepy as heck. But, Nicklas Backstrom saved the day with a goal late in the period. Only 21 seconds after that (a theme here), Michal Kempny scored a five-hole from the slot and gave the Capitals a 2-1 lead.

Tom Wilson scored his third power play goal of the season, but Brady Skjei scored a weird one for the Rangers to finish the second period with the Capitals up 3-2.

Once again, a quick goal from the Rangers tied the score at 3-3. Nic Dowd clearly didn’t want to lose this game, so he scored his sixth goal of the season. This was a game for those named Nick/Nic because Nicklas Backstrom tallied his second of the game for the boys in red. The Rangers tied it 5-5 with a couple goals to bring the game to overtime.

A final goal from Evgeny Kuznetsov in overtime secured two points for the Capitals. To be honest, the goal might have been from Ovechkin….but as Kuzy said after the game, “It doesn’t matter”.

Caps win 6-5 (OT).

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