Capitals rout the Rangers, 7-3, tie Stars for most points in the NHL
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Version 0 of 1. NEW YORK — These Washington Capitals comebacks are starting to look scripted: Fall behind by multiple goals, draw penalties and then let the power play chip away at the deficit. “You’re proud of the fact that we’ve been able to do it, but you don’t want to be in that situation,” Capitals Coach Barry Trotz said. “You’re tempting fate all of the time.” Fate didn’t collect this time. They might prefer not having to storm back from behind on a nightly basis, but at least the Capitals now know there’s a formula for these situations. On Sunday night, they erased another multi-goal deficit with another four-goal period that was again fueled by their power play, beating the New York Rangers, 7-3. The victory came two days after an eerily similar comeback against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday night, when Washington erased a 3-0 deficit with five unanswered goals. Followint those two dramatic wins the Capitals sit in first place in the Eastern Conference and are now tied with the Dallas Stars for the most points in the league, with 50. “You play the games and you experience ups and downs,” right wing Justin Williams said. “You’re not always going to have the lead going into the third, but you have to find ways to win games and find ways to stay in games, whether it be a big kill or whether it be a big power-play goal. “You have to own the big moments.” Once the comeback started in the second period, the Capitals poured it on, as if each goal could exorcise the playoff disappointment they last suffered here, a Game 7 overtime loss in the Eastern Conference semifinals. After trailing 3-1 at the first intermission, the Capitals responded with a whopping six unanswered goals. It was the first time the Capitals had scored seven goals in Madison Square Garden since Nov. 11, 1992. Evgeny Kuznetsov started it, speeding into the offensive zone, driving to the net and roofing a Tom Wilson feed past New York goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. Less than two minutes later, Nicklas Backstrom dumped the puck and it rebounded hard to T.J. Oshie, whose backhand shot got it around Lundqvist’s elbow and his side. That tied the game. When the Capitals had fallen behind, did they find themselves thinking back to their recent comeback against Tampa Bay? “Yeah, absolutely,” Marcus Johansson said. “We’ve done it plenty of times, I think. I think we all saw what we can do as a team last game. It was good that we could do it again.” The power play took care of the rest four minutes later. On just its second opportunity of the game, it delivered the lead as Alex Ovechkin slammed in a puck from his sweet spot in the left faceoff circle. Washington scored on its third power play, too, as Williams blasted in a shot from the slot in the last minute of the second period for his second goal of the game. “The power play scored us some goals, and it got us momentum,” Williams said. “That’s key, because even if you don’t score, as long as you get a couple good shots and some good opportunities and get the guys feeling the pucks, it’s a good sign.” When the teams returned from intermission to start the third period, Lundqvist was wearing a baseball cap as New York inserted rookie goalie Magnus Hellberg. The Capitals kept up their scoring pace unheeded, adding a shorthanded goal from Jason Chimera and another goal by Johansson. “I think the more that this has happened, the more you can draw on it, yeah,” Trotz said. “You look back and say, ‘Hey, we’ve done this before.’ ” The Capitals appeared to be off to a better start than Friday night, when they fell into a 3-0 hole. But after Williams got Washington on the board first 12 minutes and 3 seconds into the game, the momentum swung toward the Rangers, who scored three goals in the next six minutes. Even with goaltender Braden Holtby struggling, the mood in the locker room was calm, confident they could rally just as they had before. “Certainly, no panic,” Williams said. “We didn’t have to say it,” Ovechkin said. “We knew we could play our hockey, our game.” |