Rangers score twice in 3rd, sweep Capitals with win in Game 4

WASHINGTON -- Artemi Panarin had a goal and an assist, and the New York Rangers eliminated the Washington Capitals with a 4-2 win in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Capital One Arena on Sunday.

New York will play either the Carolina Hurricanes or New York Islanders in the second round. The Hurricanes lead that best-of-7 series 3-1.

Kaapo Kakko, Vincent Trocheck and Jack Roslovic scored for the Rangers, who are the No. 1 seed from the Metropolitan Division. Mika Zibanejad had two assists, and Igor Shesterkin made 23 saves.

“I just think that it says that we're a good hockey team,” Trocheck said of the sweep. “We showed it every game. I think even tonight when we weren't at our best, we still were able to do the little things right whenever we had a lead. [Shesterkin] obviously helped us out there, but he is a part of the team and whenever we do have a little bit of a letdown, he's back there to save our butts.”

Martin Fehervary and Hendrix Lapierre scored for the Capitals, who were the second wild card from the East. Charlie Lindgren made 19 saves, and Alex Ovechkin was held without a point for the fourth straight game.

“It’s always tough to lose a series, especially [when] we have pretty good chances,” Ovechkin said. “We just didn’t score. Our line didn’t score lots of goals and me, I didn’t play well.”

The Capitals led for just 3:21 in the series. They were also 10-for-16 on the penalty kill (62.5 percent) and 2-for-17 on the power play (11.8 percent).

“I think we played very well 5-on-5,” Capitals defenseman John Carlson said. “I think we generated a lot of chances. I think we felt kind of similar to our season, maybe not cashing in as many of our good chances as we could, and (we) severely underperformed on both sides of special teams, which when you look at the numbers, there’s nothing more telling.”

Panarin gave the Rangers a 3-2 lead with a power-play goal at 3:21 of the third period. He skated around the net and received a pass in the left circle from Zibanejad before turning and scoring with a wrist shot that went under Lindgren's left arm.

“Every power play is exciting for me, but this one especially,” Panarin said. “You just understand how important that power play is right now. Every power play is important, for sure, but it’s not that feeling. The third period is special.”

Roslovic then scored into an empty net during a power play at 19:09 for the 4-2 final.

The Rangers were 3-for-4 on the power play. The Capitals were 0-for-2.

“I thought we played a real smart, hard third period,” New York coach Peter Laviolette said. “Clearly our best period of the night. We got the big power-play goal to go ahead, but then defensively I thought we locked it down really good in the third. Just hard fought.”

Kakko scored 57 seconds into the first period to put the Rangers ahead 1-0. Capitals defenseman Nick Jensen, who was playing in his first game since April 13, tried to make a move around Will Cuylle in the defensive zone but lost the puck to Kakko, who quickly scored from the right hash marks.

“It happened fast,” Kakko said. “I was thinking maybe take a couple steps like a breakaway, but I was close to the net already. I wanted to shoot it. Maybe hard for a goalie also.”

Fehervary tied it 1-1 at 14:54. Dylan Strome forced a turnover along the right boards and passed to Aliaksei Protas, who found a cutting Fehervary for a shot from the left circle.

Trocheck scored a power-play goal to put the Rangers back in front 2-1 at 19:44. Zibanejad received a pass below the left circle and fed Trocheck, who lifted a shot over Lindgren, who had fallen down while trying to push back off the post.

Lapierre tied it 2-2 at 7:48 of the second period. He skated through the neutral zone, made a move around Rangers defenseman Ryan Lindgren, and chipped in his own rebound after Shesterkin made the initial save on his backhand attempt.

“It's going to sound crazy to say in a 4-0 series, but we were right there. Just a matter of details and a couple of bounces,” Lapierre said. “I feel like our will was there, our effort was there. It's just a matter of being more opportunistic, probably.”

NOTES: Zibanejad extended his multipoint streak to three games (one goal, five assists). ... New York is the sixth Presidents’ Trophy winner to sweep its opening-round series. The others were the 2020-21 Colorado Avalanche, the 2000-01 Avalanche, the 1998-99 Dallas Stars, the 1993-94 Rangers, and the 1985-86 Edmonton Oilers.