Deja vu all over again, except for the ending, a 3-1 win

Notes on the game

It wasn’t pointed out on the telecast, but Zibanejad took a huge hit from Garnet Hathaway  along the boards 11:50 into the third period and didn’t play for the next two and a half minutes.  It makes his game winning goal just three shifts later, all the more remarkable.

He used his speed to catch up to Brenden Dillon and he knocked him off the puck and put the puck over Samsonov’s shoulder.

Zibanejad also made two fantastic plays in the Rangers zone with the Caps’ goalie pulled and the home team pressing. First he tied up T.J. Oshie in front of the net so he couldn’t get a shot off and then he blocked a  shot from Jakub Vrana.  Zibanejad was  a beast the last three minutes of this game.

The Rangers ended the Capitals’ seven game winning streak. This season, Washington has lost seven games in regulation and the Rangers have won three of them. They also ended Alex Ovechkin’s five game goal scoring streak.

The Capitals played a very physical game, with 31 hits to the Rangers 14. They were led by Nic Dowd with five hits and Brenden Dillon with four.  No Ranger had more than two hits.

The Rangers blocked 39 shots in the two games.

K’Andre Miller took a puck to the face, but came back after repairs.  He was back to top form, look at him shutting down a break by T.J. Oshie.<

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The Capitals won 57% of the faceoffs, but it was a win by Zibanejad that led to the first goal.  The Swede won the faceoff and got the puck to Adam Fox who rushed the puck up the boards and laid a perfect pass to Pavel Buchnevich who had gone to the net.  Buchnevich scored his fourth goal in four games.

Brett Howden scored the empty net goal on an unselfish feed from Ryan Strome.  For Howden, it was his first goal in 35 games and he now has a goal and two assists in his last four games.

The power play is still a problem for the Rangers. They couldn’t take advantage of three Washington penalties as their pass happy strategy didn’t work.  While they had 10 shot attempts in six minutes, only four had to be saved by Samsonov.  You cannot succeed on a power play if you get one shot on goal.

It was a repeat of Friday night when the Rangers were awarded a power play early in the third period. Of course, they didn’t score and this time it cost them as the Caps scored right after.

The lone Capital goal came on a shift when they hemmed the Rangers in their own zone for almost a minute and a half.  It came right after the Rangers’ power play so the lines were juggled with Jacob Trouba paired with Brendan Smith and the forward line composed of Ryan Strome, Brett Howden and Colin Blackwell.   They were completely gassed when John Carlson scored.

Alexis Lafreniere played only 7:53, the least of any game this season.  When asked about it, Coach Kris Knoblauch said that it was probably his fault and that he lost track of ice time and also put some blame on line matching.

Adam Fox led all skaters  in ice time, playing 28 minutes.

He had the fantastic assist on the Buchnevich goal and was on ice for all three Ranger tallies.

The Rangers penalty kill was a perfect four for four and they are now 67 for their last 73, a 91.7% success rate.  They are 86.6% on the season, third best in the NHL.

With the one goal allowed, the Rangers have cracked the NHL top ten with a goals against average of 2.60 goals per game.

With the win, the Rangers closed to within three points of fifth place Philadelphia and six points of Boston in the last playoff spot,

Keith Kinkaid had a road shutout streak of 160:59 ended by the Carlson goal.

It was the fourth longest such streak, topped only by Lorne Chabot and Cam Talbot in franchise history.

My three Rangers stars of the game

Keith Kinkaid

was very confident in goal and that confidence bled through to his teammates.  He made the stops he needed to make, controlled his rebounds and froze the puck when the team needed it.

It was a very solid effort and the question is whether he will start Monday against the Sabres.

Pavel Buchnevich

was the most effective Ranger player until Zibanejad took over the game.  He scored the crucial first goal and had jump the entire game.

He finished with a plus/minus of +2, had four shots, two hits and was key to the Rangers penalty kill.

The official three stars of the game

1. Mika Zibanejad
2. Keith Kinkaid
3. Ilya Samsonov

East Division

Saturday’s scores

Rangers 3, Capitals 1
Penguins 3, Devils 1
Islanders 6, Flyers 1
Bruins at Sabres  – Postponed

Standings

1- Washington     31   20-7-4     44 points
2-  Islanders          32   20-8-4     44 points
3- Pittsburgh        31   19-11-1   39 points
4- Boston              28    16-8-4     36 points
5- Philadelphia    29   15-11-3    33 points
6- Rangers            30   13-13-4   30 points
7- New Jersey       28  10-14-4   24 points
8- Buffalo              29    6-19-4    16 points

What’s next

The Rangers play one game at Madison Square Garden Monday night before heading to Philadelphia.  They will take on the Jack Eichel-less Buffalo Sabres who have lost 13 in a row, have won only six of 29 games and are last overall in the NHL.  One of those wins came at the expense of the Rangers way back in January.