A brilliant 41-save effort by Igor Shesterkin was wasted Tuesday night, when the New York Rangers lost to the Washington Capitals 5-3 in an entertaining, but sloppy game at Capital One Arena.
It’s the second loss in the past three games for the Rangers (6-2-1), who were defeated for the first time in five road games this season.
Washington outshot New York 46-19. Per Natural Stat Trick, the Capitals outchanced the Rangers at 5v5 by the count of 34-14.
The numbers don’t lie. The Rangers were thoroughly outplayed for most of this game by the Capitals (6-2-0), who received two goals from Alex Ovechkin and a three-point night from Aliaksei Protas, who had one goal and two assists.
Connor McMichael also scored and finished with a game-high 10 shots on goal. Logan Thompson made 16 saves, including six in the third period when the Capitals preserved a one-goal lead until Nic Dowd’s empty-net goal.
Will Cuylle, Chris Kreider and Filip Chytil scored for the Rangers.
Washington Capitals 5 – New York Rangers 3
The fireworks in this one began at 2:37 of the first period, when Matt Rempe and former Rangers defenseman Dylan McIlrath dropped the gloves to fight at center ice. It was serious tilt between two of the League’s heavyweights, with McIlrath gaining the upper hand by cutting Rempe under the left eye and then forcing him down to the ice as the crowd roared at Capital One Arena.
Less than a minute later they had even more reason to get loud when Ovechkin stepped into a pass from Strome and hammered a shot between Shesterkin’s pads and into the net at 3:23.
However, 58 seconds after the game-opening score, Cuylle put a damper on the home crowd’s party. Skating down the middle, Cuylle took a pretty feed from Kaapo Kakko off the rush and wired his third goal of the season past Thompson to tie the game 1-1. The goal came on New York’s first shot after Washington raced to a 5-0 shots lead.
Ovechkin scored his second of the game and fourth of the season less than a minute later to restore Washington’s one-goal lead at 5:10, capping a wild sequence of three goals in 1:47. On this one, Ovechkin got behind Rangers defenseman Adam Fox to get a stick on a pass from Protas.
The Capitals added to their lead when McMichael scored his fourth of the season at 8:58 to make it 3-1. Somehow Shesterkin didn’t allow another goal in the period despite being under siege. Washington outshot New York 19-5 in what was likely the worst all-around period the Rangers have played this season.
The Rangers began the second period on the power play and quickly took advantage. Kreider was credited with his sixth goal when a Mika Zibanejad slap pass went into the net off Kreider’s skate just 30 seconds into the period.
Skating 4-on-4, Protas canceled that goal out when he came out of the corner to deflect a Rasmus Sandin pass past Shesterkin at 4:30 to make it 4-2 Capitals.
The Rangers had a quick answer, though. Chytil split the defense right down the middle to redirect a perfect pass from Victor Mancini past Thompson just 15 seconds after the Protas goal. That was Chytil’s fourth goal of the season.
Shesterkin kept the Rangers in the game with an incredible scorpion pad save on a McMichael breakaway at 5:30. Then two minutes later he stopped Protas on a wild breakaway when the Capitals forward grabbed a stick from the bench on the fly after previously breaking another stick earlier in the shift.
At the other end of the ice, Zibanejad hammered a pair of shots on net from the left circle on a Rangers power play, but Thompson denied each. Later in the period, the Rangers took off on a 3-on-2 rush, but Rempe, the trailer, had his shot blocked up into the netting.
The second period ended with the Capitals leading 4-3 on the scoreboard and up 33-13 in shots on goal.
Shesterkin came to the rescue again early in the third period, making a sensational diving save to rob Pierre-Luc Dubois cutting through the crease. The Rangers nearly tied the game but Reilly Smith’s open look was saved by Thompson’s blocker and the puck then caromed off the post.
Thompson made his best save of the night, robbing an open Chytil from right wing following a gorgeous cross-crease feed by Kakko with under nine minutes to play in regulation.
Though the Capitals were unable to pad their lead with Shesterkin stopping all 12 shots he faced in the third period, they scored with him on the bench for an extra attacker. Dowd iced the game with the empty-net goal at 19:20.
This was the Rangers’ final game in the month of October. Their next game is Friday — Nov. 1 — when they host the Ottawa Senators at Madison Square Garden.
