Caps Fall to Rangers, 4-1

New York's top line and its number one netminder proved to be too much for the Capitals on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden. Each member of the Rangers' top line scored - accounting for the first three goals of the game - and netminder Igor Shesterkin stopped 36 of 37 shots he faced on the night, blanking the Caps until the late stages of the third period in a 4-1 victory.

"That was a real good team effort, and obviously good goaltending, real good goaltending," says Rangers coach Gerard Gallant. "It's a shame he lost that shutout at the end, but we played a good, strong team game."
Washington's shot total was its highest in a single game in more than two months and there were some good looks and high danger opportunities mixed in. But Shesterkin seemed to gobble up everything sent his way; he permitted precious few second-chance opportunities for the Caps.
"I thought we had a lot of chances," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "We had over 20, and some of them were good looks and chances that you want to get - redirects, partial breakaways, shots right from the slot. You'd like to see some of them drop, but we couldn't get it past him."
Just past the midpoint of the first period, New York took a 1-0 lead. Alexis Lafreniere carried into Washington ice and left a drop pass for Mika Zibanejad. From just above the top of the right circle, Zibanejad cranked a one-timer that found its way through the five-hole of Caps goaltender Ilya Samsonov at 12:57 of the first.
Less than two minutes after the Zibanejad goal, Samsonov kept the deficit at one with a stellar stop on Morgan Barron from the slot.
At the 20-minute mark of the first, New York's Ryan Strome was whistled for tripping T.J. Oshie, giving the Caps a power play at the outset of the second. But Alex Ovechkin was sent off for hooking just over a minute into the man-advantage, putting the two sides at 4-on-4.
Samsonov robbed Morgan Barron early in the second period, and seconds later New York Shesterkin denied Garnet Hathaway's breakaway bid for the tying tally. Just after the midpoint of the middle period, the two netminders again traded strong saves. Shesterkin stopped Conor Sheary and Samsonov gloved Chris Kreider's shot off the rush with a fancy glove save.
Washington got another kick at the power play can with about five minutes remaining in the second, but the Rangers blocked both of the shots the Caps were able to tee up during those two minutes.
With just over a minute remaining in the second, the Rangers scored what would prove to be the game-winning goal. With the Rangers in the midst of an offensive zone shift, the Caps got control of the puck in front of their net, but New York's Ryan Lindgren kept the clearing attempt in the zone and quickly put the puck back toward the net, where Lafreniere tipped it past Samsonov to make it a 2-0 game with 1:12 left in the second.
For the second time in as many periods, Strome was given a tripping minor at the 20-minute mark, this time for hauling down Joe Snively. The Caps managed to get half of their six power-play shots on net for the night during this man advantage, but they didn't get the goal they needed to cut the Rangers' lead in half.
Just ahead of the seven-minute mark of the third, the Caps again were guilty of failing to clear their zone when they had the opportunity to do so. Adam Fox put the puck on net from the right point, and Samsonov made the stop. But Kreider had an empty net into which he deposited the rebound at 6:57, digging the Caps' hole a goal deeper at 3-0.
Soon after Shesterkin denied Ovechkin's breakaway attempt, New York's Barclay Goodrow scored off the rush to make it a 4-0 game at 11:09 of the third.
Another Washington power play failed to produce a lamplighter, but the Caps did manage to spoil Shesterkin's shutout bid with 62 seconds left. After Evgeny Kuznetsov won a draw in New York ice, he sent a precision feed to Ovechkin in the slot. From there, the Caps' captain redirected it to the shelf, just out of the reach of the Rangers goaltender.
Thursday's loss halted the Caps' road winning streak at five in a row. The Caps conclude their two-game Metropolitan Division trip on Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia.