Capitals Down Rangers, 7-4; Alex Ovechkin Scores Again, Connor McMichael And Aliaksei Protas Score 17th Goals Of The Season

Photo: @Capitals

The Washington Capitals downed the New York Rangers, 7-4, Saturday afternoon at Capital One Arena in the District. Logan Thompson stopped 29 of 33 shots faced in the win. The victory improves the Capitals’ record to 26-10-3 (55 points) on the season.

The Rangers opened the scoring with a tally from Chris Kreider just seven minutes into the contest. Logan Thompson played a puck in the corner and made an ill-advised attempt at an extended outlet pass that was picked clean by Kreider, who finished on an empty net. The Capitals tied the game late in the frame with a power play goal from Dylan Strome. The game remained tied 1-1 at the first intermission.

The Capitals grabbed their first lead of the afternoon on a tipped goal by Lars Eller less than three minutes into the second stanza and extended their lead to 3-1 on Andrew Mangiapane’s ninth goal of the season midway through the middle stanza. The Rangers cut the Capitals lead to 3-2 on a tally from Sam Carrick late in the period, but the Capitals quickly restored their two goal lead with a power play goal from Connor McMichael and held a 4-2 lead after two periods.

The Rangers cut the Capitals lead 5o a single goal on a tally from Filip Chytil but the Capitals quickly answered with goal from Alex Ovechkin to make it 5-3. The Rangers quickly answered with a goal from Mika Zibanejad, but this time the Capitals answered quickly themselves, restoring their two-goal lead with a gritty tally from Aliaksei Protas, to make it 6-4. Tom Wilson added an empty net goal to make it 7-4, the final.


LINEUP

Logan Thompson (15-2-2, 2.30 GAA, .918 sv%) got the start between the pipes for the Capitals. Jonathan Quick (6-4-0, 2.54 GAA, .913 sv%) got the start in goal for the visiting Rangers. The starting forward lines and defensive pairs for the Capitals:

Alex Ovechkin — Dylan Strome — Taylor Raddysh
Aliaksei Protas — Pierre-Luc Dubois — Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana – Connor McMichael — Lars Eller
Brandon Duhaime — Nic Dowd — Andrew Mangiapane

Rasmus Sandin — John Carlson
Martin Fehervary — Matt Roy
Jakob Chychrun — Trevor Van Riemsdyk

Logan Thompson
Charlie Lindgren

Scratched: Ivan Miroshnichenko, Dylan McIlrath, Alexander Alexeyev. (Hendrix Lapierre was re-assigned to Hershey on Sunday, 12/29/24).

Injured: Sonny Milano (upper-body), Nicklas Backstrom (hip), T.J. Oshie (back).


1ST PERIOD

The Rangers opened the scoring with a tally from Chris Kreider (13) at 7:00 of the first frame. Logan Thompson played a puck in the corner and made an attempt at an ill-advised, extended outlet pass that was picked clean by Kreider, who shot at an empty net.

The Capitals tied the game late in the frame with a power play goal from Dylan Strome (12) at 18:49. Jakob Chychrun (15) and Tom Wilson (14) had the helpers. The Capitals have scored a power-play goal in six of their last seven games.

The period concluded with the game tied 1-1. The Rangers led in five-on-five shot attempts, 23-11, and expected goals for, 1.20 to 0.52.


2ND PERIOD

The Capitals grabbed their first lead of the afternoon on a tipped goal by Lars Eller (7) at 2:29 off the middle frame. Martin Fehervary (8) and Trevor van Riemsdyk (13) had the assists.

The Capitals stretched their lead to 3-1 on a tally from Andrew Mangiapane (9) at 10:08 of the second period. Nic Dowd (5), Rasmus Sandin (13) had the helpers.

The Rangers cut the Capitals lead to 3-2 on a tally from Sam Carrick (2) at 16:26 off the frame.

The Capitals quickly restored their two-goal lead with a power play goal from Connor McMichael (17) at 18:13. Dylan Strome (31) and Andrew Mangiapane (7) had the assists.

The period concluded with the Capitals holding the 4-2 lead. Five-on-five shot attempts for the period were tied 14-14. The Capitals led in expected goals, 1.04 to 0.36 for the period and 1.59 to 1.54 after two periods.


3RD PERIOD

The Rangers cut the Capitals lead 5o a single goal on a tally from Filip Chytil (8) at 8:32 of the final frame. U. Vaakanainen (2) and B. Schneider (8) had the assists.

The Capitals quickly answered with goal from Alex Ovechkin (19) to make it 5-3. Dylan Strome (32) had the lone helper. With his goal, Ovechkin tied Ray Bourque (1,579) for the 12th-most points in NHL history.

The Rangers quickly answered themselves, with a goal from Mika Zibanejad (8) at 13:04, but this time the Capitals answered quickly themselves, restoring their two-goal lead with a gritty tally from Aliaksei Protas (17) at 14:00. Pierre-Luc Dubois (25) and Jakob Chychrun (16) had the helpers.

Tom Wilson added an empty netter to make it 7-4. That would be the final.

After a slow start by the Capitals , five-on-five shot attempts were basically equal for the remainder of the game. The Capitals led in high-danger chances, 9-5 for the game.


SHAVINGS (Via Capitals PR)

  • Dylan Strome scored his 12th goal of the season on the power play to tie the game 1-1. It marks Strome’s team-leading 16th power-play point of the season (3g, 13a).
  • The Capitals have scored a power-play goal in six of their last seven games.
  • Jakob Chychrun recorded the primary assist on Strome’s power play goal, his 15th assist of the season. Chychrun has recorded 18 points (6g, 12a) in his last 19 games dating back to Nov. 25, the most on the Capitals in that span.
  • Tom Wilson was credited with the secondary assist on Strome’s goal, extending his point streak to three games (1g-3a–4p). It marks Wilson’s 10th power-play point (7g, 3a) of the season, tying his career high (2023-24: 10; 2021-22: 10).
  • Lars Eller scored his seventh goal of the season to put the Capitals ahead 2-1. Eller has recorded 18 points (8g, 10a) in 48 career games against the Rangers.
  • Martin Fehervary tallied his eighth assist of the season on Eller’s go-ahead goal. Fehervary, who scored his first goal of the season on Thursday vs. Minnesota, has recorded a point in back-to-back games.
  • Trevor van Riemsdyk recorded the secondary assist on Eller’s goal, his 13th assist of the season. van Riemsdyk’s 13 assists rank third among Washington blueliners (Carlson: 21a; Chychrun: 15a).
  • Andrew Mangiapane scored his ninth goal of the season to extend Washington’s lead to 3-1. Mangiapane has recorded eight points (5g, 3a) in 10 career games against the Rangers.
  • Nic Dowd recorded the primary assist on Mangiapane’s goal, his fifth assist of the season. Dowd has registered four points (2g, 2a) in his last five games dating back to Dec. 28 at Toronto.
  • Rasmus Sandin recorded his 13th assist of the season on Washington’s third goal. Sandin has tallied 10 points (2g, 8a) in 14 games against Metropolitan Division opponents this season.
  • Connor McMichael scored his 17th goal of the season on the power play to put the Capitals ahead 4-2. McMichael’s 17 goals rank second on Washington, trailing only Alex Ovechkin (18). McMichael is one goal shy of matching his single-season career high in goals, established last season (2023-24: 18g in 80 GP).
  • The Capitals have scored multiple power-play goals in a game for the fifth time this season.
  • Dylan Strome tallied his team-leading 31st assist of the season on McMichael’s goal. Strome has recorded four points (1g, 3a) in two games against the Rangers this season and six points (1g, 5a) in his last six games against New York dating back to last season.
  • Alex Ovechkin scored his 19th goal of the season to extend Washington’s lead to 5-3. Ovechkin has scored four goals in five games since returning from a fractured fibula on Dec. 28. Ovechkin (872g in 1,449 GP) is 23 goals shy of passing Wayne Gretzky (894g in 1,487 GP) for the most goals in NHL history.
  • Aliaksei Protas scored his 17th goal of the season to make it 6-4, marking his third goal in his last three games. Thirty-two of Protas’ 33 points have come at even strength, which leads the Capitals.
  • Washington’s top-four goal scorers this season all scored in today’s game (Alex Ovechkin: 19g; Connor McMichael: 17g; Aliaksei Protas: 17g; Tom Wilson: 16g).

By Jon Sorensen

Leave a Comment