They were battle-tested and hardened by the road they took just to get here, they reasoned. The Stanley Cup playoffs are a new season.
Through the first three games, that belief has been no match for the speed and skill of the Rangers, who seized control of the series with a 3-1 win at Capital One Arena in Friday’s Game 3. New season or not, the Capitals, down 3-0 in the series, are one loss away from starting their offseason.
An 0-for-6 performance on the power play in Game 3 was a major factor in the Capitals’ trip to the brink. Once again, the special teams battle went in favor of the Rangers. Washington carried play at five-on-five, but that’s of little consolation as the Capitals face elimination Sunday.
“Just needs to be better,” winger Tom Wilson said of the power play.
“We’re playing really well five-on-five,” center Nic Dowd said. “Special teams are always going to make a big difference in the playoffs. Got to find a way to win the special teams battle.”
Goaltender Charlie Lindgren made 19 saves on 22 shots. Igor Shesterkin stopped all but one of the 28 the Capitals sent his way.
As they did in Game 2, the Capitals scored the game’s first goal. And as they did in Game 2, the Capitals quickly surrendered the lead back to the Rangers. Within 40 seconds of defenseman John Carlson’s wrist shot beating Shesterkin from the top of the slot, a deflection by Chris Kreider at the front of the net sneaked over Lindgren’s shoulder.
Washington spent the days between Game 2 and Game 3 discussing its need to handle momentum swings with more poise. Giving up a tying goal immediately after taking the lead is a textbook example of what they sought to avoid.
A power play shortly after Kreider’s goal, drawn by winger Beck Malenstyn when he was cross-checked by Ryan Lindgren, didn’t do anything to help Washington. Captain Alex Ovechkin’s quick shot off the faceoff was blocked by Jacob Trouba, and the Rangers were off to the races on a shorthanded rush. Even being hooked by center Dylan Strome couldn’t stop Barclay Goodrow from scoring off a feed from Vincent Trocheck, the Rangers’ second shorthanded goal of the series.
“It’s tough, right? We’re trying to do the right thing,” Capitals Coach Spencer Carbery said. “We’re trying to put a puck in there, but we just were exposed because we’ve got one guy back. … Our lack of foot speed obviously is a huge issue in that department.”
Suddenly, less than three minutes after Carlson’s goal, the Capitals found themselves trailing, 2-1, and reeling from another momentum swing.
Washington drew two more penalties in the first period — one by defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk, who left the game with an upper-body injury after a hit from Matt Rempe that was called for interference, and one drawn by Max Pacioretty, who was hooked by Alex Wennberg — but couldn’t convert on either chance. The Capitals killed New York’s one power-play opportunity.
Wilson was critical of Rempe’s hit on van Riemsdyk — a hit that made van Riemsdyk the fourth injured Washington defenseman, joining Rasmus Sandin, Nick Jensen and Vincent Iorio.
“I’ve been told you can’t hit that late,” Wilson said. “It’s a pretty late hit. It’s a target on one of our ‘D.’ You hate to see it. I think they’ll obviously look at it and take care of it. Seemed like a couple steamboats late to me.”
Another power play proved ineffective for the Capitals midway through the second period. The Rangers, on the other hand, capitalized on their own power-play opportunity just a few minutes later. With defenseman Alex Alexeyev in the box for tripping Kaapo Kakko, New York made quick work of Washington’s penalty kill, with Mika Zibanejad finding Trocheck for a slam-dunk finish and a 3-1 lead for the visitors.
“They’re doing a good job of winning faceoffs overall,” Dowd said. “We’re getting clears. I think we need to be a little bit more aggressive on the entries, try and deny a setup. Five of their best players on the ice versus four guys is going to make it challenging at times.”
A double minor penalty to Dowd for roughing on K’Andre Miller — who received a single minor penalty — amid a scrum along the boards put the Rangers back on the power play late in the period, but the Capitals were able to kill that penalty and maintain their two-goal deficit through 40 minutes.
The special teams-heavy nature of the series continued in the third period, with two penalties on the Rangers in the first seven minutes of the frame. But the inefficacy of Washington’s power play made additional chances with the man advantage more akin to clock-draining exercises than serious threats to cut into New York’s lead.
“The problem was we were one-and-done a little bit too much,” Carlson said.
Shesterkin stoned Wilson on the doorstep on the first opportunity, the Capitals’ best look on that try. On the second opportunity, the best chance was a shorthanded rush for Kreider.
A shot from Ovechkin with under five minutes left didn’t even serve to electrify the crowd; it was evident long before that moment that the Rangers were going to have little trouble dispatching Washington. The would-be threatening sequence ended with Zibanejad calmly skating the puck out of danger, as casually and easily as he might have in the preseason.
Malenstyn put the Rangers back on the power play with 4:31 left in the third period, allowing New York to salt away the remaining minutes and leave Washington down 3-0 in the series and facing the threat of elimination Sunday in Game 4.
“We’re not trying to win a series,” Carbery said. “We’re trying to win one hockey game.”
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