After a bitter loss to the New Jersey Devils, the Rangers were determined to get a win against the Washington Capitals on Sunday night, but instead of making their weekend better, it got worse when they were defeated by the Capitals 4-1.
The Rangers drop down to the fourth spot in the Metropolitan division with 31 points so far, while the Capitals become number two with 34 points. Home game advantages does not seem to be applying to New York teams these days.
After a little bit of back and forth, both teams were scoreless in the first period, but very quickly the tables turned when Washington scored two goals in 25 seconds at the beginning of the second period. It was Jason Chimera with a wrist shot, then Steve Olesky right after with a wrist shot that Henrik Lundqvist just did not see. Then when things seemed like they couldn’t get any worse for the Blueshirts, Mikhail Grabovski scored on a debatable penalty shot to end the second. Nate Schmidt added a goal late in the third for Washington.
Lundqvist stopped 32 of 36 shots. He was not the problem for the Rangers on Sunday night. The goaltender can only do so much without the help of his teammates. The offense needs to work hard for better scoring games and help protect their goalie. Benoit Pouliot, who was back in the lineup after looking very healthy Saturday night, scored for New York after snapping Grubauer’s shutout bid with 1:53 remaining in the third period. It was just not enough.
Hopefully, the players’ only meeting the New York Rangers held following the loss will help bring them back and ready for their next game against the Nashville Predators.
Chrissy Kim: PureSportsNY