Caps Tangle with Rangers at MSG
Caps look to build upon convincing Saturday win as they wind up mentors' trip on Tuesday in Manhattan
On Tuesday night in Manhattan, the Caps conclude a road-heavy stretch in which they play six of seven games away from D.C., and they also finish off their annual mentors' trip when they take on the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. The Caps started the mentors' trip with a convincing and uplifting 5-1 win over the Islanders in New York on Saturday.
For the Caps, the challenge is to start stacking wins together with less than a month remaining in the regular season and with ground to make up in order to nail down what would be a ninth straight playoff berth. Since the calendar flipped to 2023, the Caps have been able to win consecutive games only twice, and they have not been able to stack the victories any higher than that. With just 15 games remaining in the regular season and five points worth of ground to make up in order to climb into one of the eight Eastern Conference playoff berths, it's imperative for the Capitals to put together a sustained run of standings success.
The Caps are 3-2-1 thus far in this road heavy stretch, and they are 3-1-1 thus far in the month of March. They're going to need to put together a sustained hot streak if they hope to climb back into playoff contention, and with Saturday's victory in their pocket, they'll be seeking to string another one next to it on Tuesday in the Big Apple.
After yielding the game's first goal on Saturday night against the Islanders, the Caps roared back with five unanswered goals from five different skaters to help Darcy Kuemper claim his 20th win of the season. Saturday's win was one of Washington's better overall efforts of the season; the Caps limited New York to just 18 shots on net for the night, with only 11 of those coming at even strength. Both totals are single-game season lows for the Caps this season.
"I think that helps a little bit with confidence, but I also know that every day is its own day," says Caps' coach Peter Laviolette of Saturday's win. "Oftentimes, you get out of it what you put into it. There's a lot of work that went into [that game] and we played really well, and that has to be the mindset [on Tuesday]. We're playing a good team that added a couple of good pieces to their lineup. They're certainly a dangerous team. So defensively - like in Long Island - we're going to have to be good [Tuesday] and it will be nice to be back on the attack offensively again as well."
Getting defensemen Martin Fehervary and Nick Jensen back in the lineup for Saturday's game was a huge positive for the Caps on Saturday, too. Both blueliners had missed each of the previous three games, and with both of them back in the lineup on Saturday, the Caps looked like a much different team on the ice. Kuemper faced workloads of 40 or more shots in each of the three games the two defensemen missed, and that number was sliced in half on Saturday.
"It was huge," says Laviolette. "They're both good, two-way defensemen, but they're great defenders. To take two guys and be able to play them 23-25 minutes and to get that defense out of them, with the way they skate so well to defend, and they're physical. Having those two guys back in the lineup was a real bonus for us."
While Kuemper didn't need to make a lot of saves against the Islanders, he needed to make some big ones, especially early in the game when the score was still close. And Washington was able to offer their goaltender some strong support at both ends of the ice, something it has not been able to do on a consistent basis this season.
Kuemper's record is 17-1-2 when his teammates score at least three goals for him, and he is 3-19-3 when his mates combine for two or fewer goals. His 2.71 GAA and his .913 save pct. both rank seventh in the League among netminders with 40 or more starts this season.
"Darcy has been probably our best player this year," said Caps center Dylan Strome in the wake of Kuemper's Saturday night performance. "He has been our rock in lots of games and he has found a way for us. It was nice to reward him with a few less shots than he would like, but he was solid. He made some big saves in the first, and a couple early in the second there. We had a lot of penalties, and the goalie has got to be your best penalty killer. And tonight, he was."
The Rangers are sitting comfortably in third place in the Metropolitan Division standings. Ahead of the trade deadline, the Rangers added a pair of prominent veteran forwards with the acquisitions of Vladimir Tarasenko from St. Louis and Patrick Kane from Chicago. Tarasenko has totaled four goals and nine points in 15 games since his arrival in Manhattan, while Kane has contributed two goals and three points in five games since he joined the club.
New York is 4-5-2 in its last 11 games, and only one of its last five victories overall has been achieved in regulation. Tuesday marks the Rangers' return from a four-game road trip in which they posted a 2-1-1 mark. The journey concluded on Sunday in Pittsburgh with a 3-2 overtime loss to the Penguins.
Washington won each of the first two meetings between the two longtime rivals this season, including a 6-3 victory over the Blueshirts in the District just over two weeks ago. Kuemper also blanked the Rangers on 32 shots here in New York on Dec. 27.
