The Rangers beat the Capitals 4-2 & are officially on a roll

The New York Rangers played one of their most satisfying games of the season, defeating the Washington Capitals in a game that they could easily lost just two weeks ago. They took the lead and held it with a dedicated forecheck, excellent goaltending, timely scoring and another outstanding penalty kill.  They overcame some horrific refereeing, a fluke goal and a classic Ovechkin slapshot to win.

The Rangers’ defense is getting better and better.  That despite the fact that they had a new third pairing of Tony Bitetto and Libor Hajek.  Trouba was a physical presence and K’Andre Miller continues to play like a veteran.  The Adam Fox-Ryan Lindgren tandem continues to excel as well.

David Quinn was pleased with the effort. “I like how hard we’re defending, good sticks in the d-zone. We did a good job managing the game…we had guys step up. we earned he win tonight. We deserved the two points.

Every game it seems like a new hero stands up for the Blueshirts and in this game it was Tony Bitetto who scored a highlight second period goal.  It was an unexpected result from an unexpected player.   There were no bad Ranger players in this game, it was a true team effort and they deserved the two points.

Notes on the game

• The game ended with a scrum in the Caps end, all due to Brendan Lemieux.  With seconds left in the game Lemieux skated into the crease near goalie Vitek Vanecek who stuck his stick out and made contact with Lemiieux.  The contact caused Vanecek to lose his balance, but to the Caps it looked like Lemieux had caused the contact and they came to the defense of their goalie.  They gave Lemieux a two minute tripping penalty and Kevin Rooney and Brenden Dillon got five for fighting.
• One could argue that Lemieux had no business in the crease at the end of a game, but that is the kind of chippy player that Lemieux is.  As some of our readers have pointed out, it will only make the target on his back bigger for the referees and it could fire up the Capitals who the Rangers will play seven more times this season.
• The Ranger penalty kill has been awesome for the last three games, stopping 14 power plays in that time. They are now in 11th place in the NHL with a 81.6% efficiency rate.
• The power play has dropped to 22nd overall with a 14.6% success rate.  The unit is controlling play with the man advantage,but they are not getting good shots and as a result, are not scoring.  They have now scored only two power play goals in their last 21 chances.
• The Rangers held their own in the faceoff circle, winning 26 of 57 draws. There is a directly correlation between faceoffs and how the Rangers play in general.  When they do well on draws, it means the team is playing well and they are focused.
• The Rangers blocked 18 shots compared to nine for the Capitals.
• The Capitals won the possession battle in this game at even strength. Their Corsi For percentage was 54.12%, driven by a 64% Corsi For number in the third period.  The good news is the scoring chances were almost even with a 22-21 advantage for Washington and the high danger chances were even between the two teams 10-10.
• Jacob Trouba led the team with four hits, with Zibanejad and Lindgren next with three.
• Fox led all skaters with 26:27 minutes of ice time. Toube was second with 24:42.
• Kaapo Kakko had an assist and was plus two on the game, so it looks like he will continue to get playing time with Panarin and Strome.  After the game, Strome called it Kakko’s “best game of the year.”
• Julien Gauthier played just over six minutes and was on ice for the Bitetto goal.
• On his season debut, Libor Hajek played just over nine minutes and did nothing to warrant him not playing in the next game.
• The Rangers are now at NHL .500 and are only one point out of the last playoff spot.
• The Capitals didn’t lose a game in regulation in January, but now have lost two in a row.
• You might have missed it, but as the Rangers left the ice it looked like Shesterkin made a move to fight with Artemi Panarin, before laughing. It sure looked like he was imitating the fisticuffs last Saturday.
• It took some getting used to but the Rangers used their new third “Liberty” jerseys.  It was hard to see the players’ numbers, something they should fix.

My 3 Rangers stars of the game

Igor Shesterkin was the key to this game.  He made a stop 40 second into the game on an Alexander Ovechkin break in and was outstanding in the third period when the Capitals were pushing hard.  Although Ovechkin finally beat him with his patented slapper, Shesterkin stopped Ovechkin six other times. He had 31 saves and one of the two goals was an absolute fluke.

Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome share the second star because the two goals scored by Strome can attributed directly to Panarin.  The Breadman got the puck to Adam Fox for the shot that Strome deflected.  He then fed Strome on the give and go for the winning goal. Panarin did his most to get Strome the hat trick on a night when the center could have had four or five goals.

Tony Bitetto deserves the third star for his highlight goal and what it meant to the team. It broke open a tight 1-0 game and he was an inspiration to his teammates.  He’s a journeyman defenseman who is finally playing for the team of his dreams and he is making the most of it.

The official three stars

1. Ryan Strome
2. Igor Shesterkin
3. Artemi Panarin

East Division

Scores

The Sabres-Islanders and the Devils-Penguins games were postponed due to COVID-19 protocols.

Standings

1. Boston             10 GP    7-1-2       16  pts.
2. Philadelphia    11 GP    7-2-2       16  pts.
3. Washington     11 GP   6-2-2        14 pts.
4. Pittsburgh        10 GP   5-4-1        11 pts.
5. New Jersey        9 GP     4-3-2       10 pts.
6. Rangers            10 GP   4-4-2         10 pts.
7. Buffalo               10 GP   4-4-2        10 pts.
8. Islanders            9 GP     3-4-2          8 pts.

What’s next

The Rangers next game on Saturday against the Devils has been postponed, so the Rangers will have to wait until Monday when they take on the Islanders at Madison Square Garden.