March 25, 2013, Washington Capitals-New York Rangers NHL regular season game story for Sports XChange
Shootout victory gives Capitals third straight win
By Denis Gorman, The Sports Xchange | The SportsXchange – 11 hours ago
NEW YORK - It wasn't perfection. But Washington Capitals head coach Adam Oates and his team will take the two points they left New York City with Sunday night.
Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom each scored in regulation and again in the shootout as the Capitals beat the New York Rangers 3-2 at Madison Square Garden. Washington (14-16-1) earned its third win in a row.
"We leaked a little while at times but then we kind of managed the game throughout and won on the shootout," said Oates.
Arron Asham and Derek Stepan
scored for the Rangers. Stepan also scored in the shootout.
Even though
New York (15-13-2) has split its past six games, the Rangers moved into
eighth place in the Eastern Conference with the point they gained
Sunday. The Rangers are one point ahead of ninth-seeded
Carolina. New York has 33 points compared to the Hurricanes' 32. The
teams will meet twice more -- Apr. 6 and Apr. 25. Both of those games
will be at the PNC Arena in Raleigh, N.C.
"I'm not even thinking
about playoffs," New York coach John Tortorella said. "I'm thinking
about points. We get a point. Would we like to have two? Yes. But we
didn't get it."
Both teams experienced momentum surges in the first period, as all of the regulation scoring was done in the first 20 minutes.
Backstrom opened the scoring 7:54 into the first period with his fifth
of the season. Ovechkin increased the lead to 2-0 less than two minutes
later.
"Obviously, a great start to the game," Oates said.
However, New York fought back on the strength of goals off the sticks
of Asham (at 14:12) and Stepan (at 18:03). Stepan's goal, his ninth,
came on a 5-on-3 power play.
"It was very important to us [to
score]," Asham said. "It seemed to get the bench going and started to
get the team rolling. They took a couple penalties on us, and our power
play got us back into it. It's just too bad we couldn't finish it off."
Tortorella pointed at the work performed by the Rangers' fourth line as
key to the comeback. Asham's goal cut the deficit in half, and Darroll
Powe drew an interference penalty on Jason Chimera that led to Stepan's
tying goal.
"They changed the complexion when we were down and
scored a goal," Tortorella said. "Change momentum plus score a goal,
drew a penalty. That was good stuff for us. It gets us a point."
The game remained tied until the shootout due to the efforts of the goaltenders, Washington's Braden Holtby and New York's Henrik Lundqvist. Lundqvist finished with 22 saves, while Holtby stopped 30 of 32 shots.
Both goaltenders made highlight-reel saves in the second period.
Holtby forced Marian Gaborik to shoot high and wide with 8:19 left in
the second. Gaborik bore down on Holtby, sprung by a Michael Del Zotto
home run pass, but instead of shooting, the New York winger attempted to
deke Holtby to the ice and beat him with a backhander high to the glove
side. Instead, the shot found the protective netting behind the glass.
Lundqvist matched Holtby by turning away Washington center Mike Ribeiro
with a minute remaining in the second period. Riberio's shot hit
Lundqvist in the mask, and Karl Alzner's shot on the rebound hit the
goalpost.
"It was a hard shot and I kind of [lost] balance and ended up on my side," Lundqvist said. "I'm fine.
Lundqvist was troubled by the fact he allowed Ovechkin and Backstrom to score in the one-on-one.
"I only stopped two of four in the shootout. I have to be better,"
Lundqvist said. "You face really good players. I think the last one was a
really good shot but Ovechkin, [I] felt like I had him but I didn't get
the stick down."
New York was 1-for-2 on the power play while
the Capitals went 1-for-3. Washington had a 5-on-3 power play for 1:42
early in the second period but only generated one shot.
"It's
frustrating because it's a long one and we really didn't get enough good
looks, quite honestly. The crowd was crazy and they killed the
penalty," Oates said. "We didn't let it break us down."
NOTES: Sunday's game was the third and final regular-season meeting
between the Eastern Conference rivals. The Rangers won the first two
games. ...Stu Bickel reported to the Rangers' AHL affiliate, the
Connecticut Whale, after clearing waivers. ... New York scratched
defenseman Matt Gilroy and forward J.T. Miller. ... Defenseman Jeff
Schultz and left wings Wojtek Wolski and Aaron Volpatti were scratched
by Washington. ... Asham played in his first game since Feb. 19. Asham
had missed 15 games with back spasms. ... AHL call-up Kris Newbury
skated on New York's fourth line with Asham and Darroll Powe. Newbury
had an assist and three hits in 8:55 of ice time. ... The game also
marked the end of Washington's longest road trip of the season. The
Capitals will host the New York Islanders on Tuesday before ending the
month with consecutive games in Buffalo (on Saturday) and Philadelphia
(on Sunday). ... The match also spelled the end of New York's four-game
homestand. The Rangers will finish March with road games in Philadelphia
(on Tuesday), Ottawa (Thursday) and Montreal (Saturday). ...New York
has a practice scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Monday at their Training
Facility in Greenburgh, N.Y. ...Rangers captain Ryan Callahan had a
season high in shots with nine. ...Tenth-seeded Washington is two points
behind New York for the eighth seed in the East.
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/shootout-victory-gives-capitals-third-031033822--nhl.html
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