|
 The superstar sniper could have been talking about he views his team
as a whole.
"Everyone knows exactly what to do," Ovechkin said after left winger
Marcus Johansson and right winger Justin Williams' three-point
efforts sparked the Washington Capitals to a 7-3 rout of the New
York Rangers at Madison Square Garden Sunday night in New York.
Ovechkin, center Evgeny Kuznetsov, right winger TJ Oshie and left
winger Jason Chimera scored for the 24-6-2 Capitals. Goaltender
Braden Holtby made 33 saves.
"It's working," Ovechkin said.
The same is not true for New York, which dropped to 19-12-4 with its
third straight loss. Right winger J.T. Miller, left winger Chris
Kreider and defenseman Dan Boyle scored for the Rangers.
"We have to regroup," Alain Vigneault said.
Goaltenders Henrik Lundqvist and Magnus Hellberg combined to allow
all seven Washington goals on 30 shots.
Lundqvist was pulled after yielding five goals on 24 shots in two
periods. Hellberg made four stops in his first NHL game.
"I need to come up with that extra save," Lundqvist said. "Just a
tough game."
Hellberg replaced Lundqvist at the start of the third period, and
promptly surrendered goals to Chimera and Johansson.
New York had surged in the first period. Washington repaid the favor
in the second period.
Kuznetsov cut the deficit to 3-2 with his 10th of the season 5:25
into the second. Oshie tied the game at 7:01 with his 13th of the
season, and Washington went ahead 4-3 on Ovechkin's power-play goal
at 11:03. Williams' power-play goal with 59.4 seconds left in the
period pushed the lead to 5-3.
Washington scored its four goals in the second period on 17 shots,
and went into intermission with a 5-3 lead.
"We know we have a team when we're playing our game we can score
goals," Williams said.
New York went into the first intermission with a 3-1 lead on the
strength of back-to-back-to-back goals from Miller, Kreider and
Boyle in a span of 4:21.
Washington actually opened the scoring on Williams' ninth goal of
the season at 12:03. The sequence began with defenseman Taylor
Chorney skating down the left side untouched. He fired a shot that
Williams, alone at the top of the crease, redirected past Lundqvist.
[to top of second column] |
Miller drew New York even 1:39 later with his seventh of the year.
The 22-year old skated around Washington defenseman Matt Niskanen
before wiring a shot that beat Holtby to the far side.
It took all of 2:02 for New York to build upon Miller's goal.
Kreider's unassisted goal at 15:44 put New York ahead 2-1. After
creating a turnover, Kreider counterattacked and deked Holtby out of
position leading the top-six forward's sixth goal of the season.
Before the end of the period, Boyle's power play rocket from the
left site extended the lead to 3-1 as Washington defenseman Dmitry
Orlov served a hooking penalty.
"You don't want to be in that situation," Barry Trotz said. "You are
tempting fate. I thought we were a little sleepy in the first
period."
NOTES: Due to the Pittsburgh-Davidson men's college basketball game
at Madison Square Garden earlier in the day, Washington did not hold
a morning skate. The Rangers skated at their Westchester, N.Y.,
training facility. Pittsburgh routed Davidson, 94-69. ... New York
scratched LW Viktor Stalberg. G Antti Raanta (head) and D Dan
Girardi (knee) also missed the game with injuries. ... Washington
scratched D Connor Carrick and RW Stanislav Galiev. ... Scouts and
executives listed on the Madison Square Garden press box seating
list included Mark Messier, who now works for the Edmonton Oilers,
St. Louis GM Doug Armstrong and assistant GM Martin Brodeur, Hockey
Canada scout and former Flyers coach Craig Berube, and Anaheim
assistant coaches Trent Yawney and Paul MacLean.
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