The New York Rangers defeated the Washington Capitals tonight by the score of 4-2. For a box score, click here.
After that miserable first period, it looked liked tonight’s game was going to be just another Saturday night special that we typically see saved for games in Montreal.
Except a certain Rangers rookie had other plans tonight. Big night for Jimmy Vesey to tie and put the Rangers ahead a few minutes apart in the second period. He picked a hell of a night for his coming out party.
The turning point for me in tonight’s game was the fantastic job the Rangers PK did with Zibanejad in the box early in the second. The Rangers had just flipped momentum on the Caps with Brandon Pirri’s quick goal to start the second to bring the Rangers back within one. That four minute PK allowed just one shot in on Lundqvist and the Rangers got right back to work on the other side of it.
Vesey scored twice exactly three minutes apart, first on the power play, finishing off a pass in front of the net from Nash to tie the game. The game winner by Vesey was all great forechecking work by Zuccarello, picking off an outlet pass by Alzner, who then got beat to the front of the net by Vesey, channeling his inner Kreider going forehand-backhand past Holtby.
Defensively, this wasn’t the greatest the Rangers have been although it progressively got better as the game went along. Clendening, save for his first shift played well and is still the only puck mover on this team right now and sitting him for Girardi would be ridiculous. Staal saw quite a bit of time against Ovechkin and looked horrible as Ovechkin made it 2-0. McDonagh didn’t leave the ice in the third period trying to cement a win in what I thought was his best game so far this season. The group as a unit is inconsistent, but it’s not imploding the team as it did last season.
No one should kill Hank for either Caps goal tonight. No one is stopping the Eller tip in front of the net. And Staal defending anyone with his back to the shooter usually ends disastrously, whether it would’ve been Ovechkin or Tanner Glass. His stats right now aren’t really indicative of his play so far.
The Rangers all in all did a pretty good job containing the Caps depth which has killed them in the past. You didn’t hear much from TJ Oshie or Justin Williams tonight. Despite the score, the Rangers controlled possession for most of the game. And that’s encouraging against another well-rounded possession team that was undefeated in their building.
Quick turnaround for the Rangers tonight as they’ll have another game back at MSG on Sunday against the Arizona Coyotes.
(Photo credit: Patrick McDermott/NHLI via Getty Images)
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