| New York Rangers vs Washington Capitals | ||||
| Team | P1 | P2 | P3 | Total |
 New York Rangers | 0 | 3 | 2 | 5 |
 Washington Capitals | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Current Status: Final | ||||
Plus: The Anthony Mantha Revival continues, as big #39 picked up goal #11 on the season, tying his entire goal output for all of last season.
Minus: The Caps have been very good defensively and on the penalty kill overall this season…but neither of those traits was on display in the second period, when they gave up three goals in about five minutes, including one in the final seconds of a power play.
Key Moment: After a solid first period where the Caps controlled the majority of play, things kind of fell apart in the second – and it was this Braden Schneider goal, just 40 seconds after the Rangers jumped out to a lead, that made the game feel out of reach (despite there still being about half a game left):
Caps Player of the Game: Give this one to Mantha, who led the team with 7 shots on goal and scored the team’s only tally.
Final Thoughts: This was a strange one for the Caps, who came out at the start of the game looking ready to play and even got the second period off to a good start with the first goal of the game. After that? The wheels simply came off, and whether the rust from a holiday break just took a bit to catch up to them or the Rangers found a gear the Caps didn’t have, it ended up turning ugly pretty quickly and getting progressively uglier as the night went on.
Here’s hoping they left that garbage at MSG and won’t be hauling it across the river when they take on the Islanders on Friday.