Capitals Fall to the Rangers, 2-1

Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

The Capitals fell to the New York Rangers, 2-1 Sunday afternoon at Madison Square Garden. The loss dropped the Capitals record to 39-12-7 (85 points). The Capitals Next face the Flyers in Philadelphia on Wednesday. Puck drop is 8:00PM, and will be televised on NBC as their “Wednesday Night Rivalry” game of the week.

Philipp Grubauer got the start in goal for the Capitals. Henrik Lundqvist got the start in goal for the Rangers.

Zach Sanford got the start in place of the injured Andre Burakovsky, who missed his third consecutive game due to a hand injury.

Taylor Chorney and Jakub Vrana were the healthy scratches.

This was the second game of a back-to-back set of road games for the Capitals.

QUICK NOTES

For the second consecutive game, the Caps gave up the game’s first goal.
Philipp Grubauer was strong in the first period and thoughout the game, keeping the Caps in the game.
The Rangers outshot the Caps 20-10 for the first period.
The Capitals surged in the second period to tie the game, and outshot the Rangers 11-4.
The Capitals woke up in the second period, initiated by the third and fourth lines.

FIRST PERIOD
The Rangers would strike first on a goal by Ryan McDonagh at 7:49 of the opening frame.

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The Rangers would make it 2-0 on a goal by Mika Zibanejad at 16:45 of the first period. The Capitals challenged the play for being offsides, and replay confirmed the play was indeed offsides. The first period would end with the Rangers leading 1-0. The Rangers outshot the Capitals 20-10 for the first period.

SECOND PERIOD
The Capitals would tie the game on a power play goal by Alex Ovechkin at 17:24 of the middle frame.

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The period would end with the game 1-1. The Capitals outshot the Rangers 11-4 for the second period. The Rangers led in shots on goal 23-21 through two periods of play.

THIRD PERIOD
The Rangers would regain the lead on a goal by Mats Zuccarello at 8:37 of the final period. The goal was setup from a face-off play in which the Capitals did not defend.

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