The New York Rangers had their five-game winning streak
snapped in a decisive way as the Washington Capitals controlled much of the
game en route to a 4-1 victory.
Michael Del Zotto has been excellent of late, but he had
some bad moments tonight with one early costing the Rangers’ the first goal of
the game. Marcus Johansson made the
Rangers pay for the Del Zotto turnover when he coverts the rebound from Halpern’s
shot.
Brandon Dubinsky got the Rangers back to even late in the
first period when he kept the puck on a two-on-one and beat Vokoun glove
side. The goal was Dubinsky’s third of
the year and second in four games has him showing more and more signs of
pulling out of his struggles. The key to
the play was Callahan blocking the Carlson shot and starting the play the other
way.
After the first period the Capitals had control of the play
and Troy Brouwer scored the go-ahead goal that seemed to take a lot of steam
out of the Rangers. Brouwer beat
McDonagh in front and re-directed the Carlson shot mid-way through the second.
With the game tied 1-1, Brouwer got tangled with Rangers
defenseman Ryan McDonagh in front of the New York net. Brouwer not only
screened goalie Martin Biron but redirected John Carlson's drive from the left
point for his 10th goal of the season at 10:24.
Alexander Semin made it 3-1 just 2:38 later when Alex Ovechkin
stood Brad Richards up in neutral ice and it led to Backstrom before Semin got
beat the defense in for the backhander.
Semin added another one in the third with him more typical snap shot high
glove side that went off Biron’s shoulder and in.
- Rangers defense looked slow and over matched more tonight than much of the season.
- Interesting decision by Tortorella to go with five-forward power play during the third period though it appeared to work when Callahan put the puck in, but it was disallowed for Callahan's kick. The decision was interesting because of how well Del Zotto has been playing of late.
