Photo: Twitter: @Capitals
The Washington Capitals flattened the New York Rangers, 6-3 Saturday afternoon at Capital One Arena. Evgeny Kuznetsov scored twice, T.J. Oshie recorded two goals and a Gordie Howe hat trick and Tom Wilson scored his fifth goal in just 12 games played this season for the win. The victory improves the Capitals record to 29-25-6 (64 points) on the season.
Darcy Kuemper (16-18-4, 2.68 GAA, .913 sv%) started between the pipes for the Capitals. Igor Shesterkin (25-9-7, 2.59 GAA, .912 sv%) got the start in goal for the visiting Rangers. The forward lines and defensive pairs for the Capitals:
Alex Ovechkin — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Tom Wilson
Conor Sheary — Nicklas Backstrom — Craig Smith
Sonny Milano — Dylan Strome — T.J. Oshie
Lars Eller — Nic Dowd — Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Martin Fehervary — Nick Jensen
Erik Gustafsson — Trevor Van Riemsdyk
Matt Irwin – Dylan McIlrath
Alex Alexeyev
Charlie Lindgren
Darcy Kuemper
Scratches: Marcus Johansson (non-Covid illness), Alex Alexeyev, Aliaksei Protas
FIRST PERIOD
The Capitals opened the scoring with a power play goal from T.J. Oshie (13) at 4:25. Erik Gustafsson (29) and Evgeny Kuznetsov (37) had the helpers on the game[s first marker.
Big tipper! pic.twitter.com/FsoKevb0Jo
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) February 25, 2023
But the Rangers answered less than four minutes later with a tally from Braclay Goodrow (10) at 8:00 of the opening stanza. Tyler Motte (7) had the lone assist.
Just tap it in. pic.twitter.com/3SwO3VkTYm
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) February 25, 2023
T.J. Oshie laid a punishing, but legal hit on Ryan Lindgren moments later, which caused a reaction from the Rangers.
Lindgren’s hurt and off to the locker room after this hit from Oshie – no call on the play pic.twitter.com/QAwie8iPdk
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) February 25, 2023
T.J. Oshie and Barclay Goodrow dropped the gloves after Oshie checked Lindgren into the boards.
#ALLCAPS GOODROW AND OSHIE FIGHT (i love goodrow) pic.twitter.com/ctHd2lKksV
— Capitals Replays (@capsreplays) February 25, 2023
And that would be it for an eventful first period. There was a good early push from the Capitals, but then the Rangers were +9 in shot attempts following the Capitals power play goal. The Rangers lead in five-on-five shot attempts, 12-7 for the first period.
SECOND PERIOD
The Capitals regained the lead early in the middle frame on T.J. Oshie’s (14) second goal of the afternoon. Dylan Strome (26) and Erik Gustafsson (30) had the assists.
No stopping the Oshbabe tonight pic.twitter.com/LfPWw6p8yE
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) February 25, 2023
The Capitals extended their lead to 3-1 on Tom Wilson’s 5th goal of the season at 7:05 of the second period. Trevor van Riemsdyk (11) and Alex Ovechkin (23) had the helpers.
Tom Wilson (@tom_wilso) with the HANDS. 🙌
📺: @ESPNPlus ➡️ https://t.co/lkR8U2Y5nr pic.twitter.com/hZQGmK6jPu
— NHL (@NHL) February 25, 2023
The Capitals made it 4-1 with a tally from Sonny Milano (9) at 12:53. Evgeny Kuznetsov (36) and T.J. Oshie (10) had the assists. Oshie’s assist gave him the Gordie Howe hat-trick.
We love to see it Sonny boy🌞 pic.twitter.com/PH7GsjqhW7
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) February 25, 2023
The Capitals made it 5-1 on Evgeny Kuznetsov’s 10th goal of the season at
Evgeny Kuznetsov takes advantage of a bad change by the Rangers with a breakaway beaut, 5-1 Washington!#ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/30jdlc6RhU
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights (@HockeyDaily365) February 25, 2023
The period concluded with the Capitals holding a commanding 5-1 lead. The Capitals led in five-on-five shot attempts 28-20 and led 35-32 after two periods.
THIRD PERIOD
The Rangers were awarded two consecutive power plays to begin the final frame and would cash-in on the second one, closing the gap to 5-2. Kris Kreider (25) notched the power play tally at 6:45 of the third.
Chris Kreider beats Kuemper with a wicked redirect tally on the power play, Rangers within 3!#NYR pic.twitter.com/DmNkzxX4Ps
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights (@HockeyDaily365) February 25, 2023
But the Capitals would extinguish the Rangers surge. Evgeny Kuznetsov restored the Capitals four-goal lead at 13:22.
KUZNETSOV’S SECOND GOAL WAS A BEAUTY 👏 pic.twitter.com/YfQ0DOhTNQ
— ESPN (@espn) February 25, 2023
The Rangers would add a late goal to make it 6-3, the final.
The Capitals get right back to work on Sunday when they face the scorching-hot Sabres in Buffalo.
SHAVINGS
- T.J. Oshie played in his 500th game with the Capitals. He becomes the 31st skater in franchise history to appear in 500 games with Washington and the seventh active Capital to reach the 500-game mark with the team.
- Erik Gustafsson recorded the primary assist on Oshie’s power-play goal, extending his assist streak to three games (3a). Gustafsson’s 11 power-play assists this season rank tied for second on the Capitals (Evgeny Kuznetsov: 13; Dylan Strome: 11).
- Evgeny Kuznetsov recorded the secondary assist on Oshie’s power-play goal, his team-leading 37th assist of the season and team-leading 13th power-play assist.
- T.J. Oshie scored his second goal of the game to give the Capitals a 2-1 lead. It marks Oshie’s second multi-goal performance of the season and the 37th of his career.
- Dylan Strome recorded the primary assist on the Capitals’ second goal. Seventeen of Strome’s 26 assists have been primaries.
- Alex Ovechkin recorded the secondary assist on Wilson’s goal, his 23rd assist of the season. Ovechkin is now three points shy of passing Stan Mikita (1,467) for the 16th-most points in NHL history.
- The Capitals scored four goals in the second period, tying a single-period high this season. It marks Washington’s seventh four-goal period this season and first since Jan. 5 at Columbus.
- The Capitals have scored 75 goals in the second period this season, the seventh-highest total in the NHL.
T. J. “Knuckles” Oshie with the Gordie Howe hat trick.
How long has it been since a Cap had one of those?
Great game by the boys! Fun to watch! Keep selling for the retool though😀
Liking the trade deadline improvements so far 😂😂😂
Most watchable game in a long time. Fast, moving, no standing around, no looking for that perfect pass, good aggression, just fun to watch hockey. Who was that alien in the Lavi costume?
Same. Action packed from the start. The emotion was there. Always physical with the New Yawkers. That helps as well.
It also helps that the Rags didn’t show up. Don’t know if it was the early start, or they watched tape of the Caps-Ducks and thought this would be a walkover, but they just plain sucked.
We needed that! Thanks boys!
How can they play that good and look so bad at other times.
They had a very different style of play today, not their usual stand around and pass. At times they looked like the Canes to me.
Hey Fyre, any bruising defensemen in SC? It doesn’t look like McIlrath is going to return to Hershey anytime soon. Big hole with regards to grit.
Maass and Has are two of the four biggest, but I don’t view either one as a fighter. Maass has 40 PIM, Has 12, but I can’t tell you what they were for. I have to admit, I’m not a fan of fighting so when the gloves come off, I lose interest.
Now, in terms of willingness to block shots, Maass has been impressive.
Thanks for intel, Fyre. Physical defensemen might be an emerging gap in the organization.
The Caps played well but the Rangers also played poorly. The Caps had a large number of odd-man rushes, and the Rangers didn’t make too many good defensive plays even when they weren’t caught up ice. Just a real lack of effort on their part, combined with a solid effort from the Caps.