Much has been said about the Washington Capitals and their entry into the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Washington was one of the worst offensive teams in the league during the regular season. Franchise icon Alex Ovechkin even had a down year, at least in the first half. They were riding high on their playoff qualification, though. That is until they met the New York Rangers on Sunday afternoon.
The Capitals were simply outmatched by the Blueshirts in New York. The Rangers outshot, outhit, and outscored Washington en route to a 4-1 victory at Madison Square Garden. New York now holds an all-important 1-0 series lead in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
After the game, Alex Ovechkin addressed the media. The Rangers did an incredible job shutting down the future Hall of Fame winger. In fact, he didn’t record a single shot on goal during this game. And he was rather blunt with his postgame thoughts. “We all understand it’s the playoffs,” Ovechkin said, via ESPN. “Forget about this one and move forward.”
Rangers outclass Capitals
Neither team found the back of the net in the first period. However, the floodgates opened in the middle frame. Controversial rookie forward Matt Rempe opened the scoring for the Rangers. Before long, Artemi Panarin and Jimmy Vesey made it a 3-0 lead for New York.
However, the Blueshirts allowed the Capitals a goal entering the third period. Martin Fehervary scored to give his team a much-needed lifeline. That stood as the final goal in the second period. Still, the Rangers controlled the game. And in the third, they claimed their victory thanks to a Chris Kreider goal.
The Rangers now hold a 1-0 series lead in this best-of-seven matchup. Washington will attempt to avoid going down 2-0 against New York before the series shifts to the nation’s capital. However, Alex Ovechkin and his team acknowledged there is work to be done in that department first.
Washington must get better
There was a common theme throughout Washington’s post-game media availability. Everyone acknowledged that the Capitals had to improve their game. Specifically, they needed to find another level on the offensive side. Scoring goals was a prevalent issue for Washington throughout the season, and it has reared its ugly head once again.
“Yeah, we’ve got to do a way better job offensively,” head coach Spencer Carbery said, via NHL.com. “It’s no secret we’ve struggled all year, but we’ve got to find ways to create more on the interior. We’ve got to skate out of pressure. We’ve got to keep pucks off the yellow. We continually just rim pucks around. We’ve got to do a better job offensively.”
Even beyond scoring goals, the team simply has to put more shots on goal. The Capitals averaged just 26.5 shots per game entering the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They ranked 30th out of 32 teams in this department. On Sunday afternoon, they averaged just 21 shots against the Rangers. This has to change if Washington has any designs of making a comeback.
Overall, the Capitals expected the Rangers to come out hot in this series. They did just that on Sunday. Now, Washington has to collect themselves and find a way to claw back into this series before its too late.
“It’s nothing we didn’t expect, nothing we haven’t talked about,” Capitals defenseman John Carlson said, via NHL.com. “We have a chance to play a lot better, and I think for us, just regroup and put our heads down and get back to work like we always have.”
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