Game Summary – Event Summary – Shot Summary – Face-off Summary – Play By Play – Home TOI – Visitor TOI – HockeyViz – Money Puck – Natural Stat Trick
Going for their seventh-straight win tonight and standing in their way were the New York Rangers, a team that has been a Capitals Achilles’ heel lately, with just one win for the Capitals in their last five games against New York. With the Rangers were coming off a strong 9-0 win against the Philadelphia Flyers, the question was will the Rangers gain so much confidence from that win that they would just run over the Capitals or would they let the win get into their heads and the Capitals could take advantage? Well it was neither really, the Rangers were the better team but due to Vitek Vancek’s stellar play and Alexander Ovechkin’s stick, they won 2-1.
Minus: It was a pretty messy game by the Capitals, especially their passing. Even when they weren’t being pressured they were sending passes a foot in front or behind their targets, which led to a lot of blue line turnovers and Ranger chances.
Plus: Vanecek was fantastic. He stopped 32 of 33, some of the high end, ten bell saves. Without him the Capitals would have been buried.
Some other notes:
Overall it wasn’t a particularly interesting game until it was, and thankfully, the Capitals were able to pull out a win. They can’t play like that again tomorrow night, though, and expect the same outcome. Tomorrow will require more focus, better passing and getting the puck up the ice. They’ll have the services of Tom Wilson again, as his suspension comes to an end, which should be a huge energy boost for the Capitals (and hopefully Lars Eller is able to return from injury as well).