The Rangers finished off a sweep of the Washington Capitals with a 4-2 victory in Game 4 of their first-round series Sunday night at Capital One Arena.
Kaapo Kakko, Vincent Trocheck and Artemi Panarin scored for the Blueshirts while Jack Roslovic added an empty-net, power-play goal with 51 seconds left.
The Rangers advance to a second-round date in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with the winner of the series between the Islanders and the Carolina Hurricanes.
Igor Shesterkin was terrific in goal again, making 21 saves. He allowed only seven goals in the series.
The Rangers have now beaten the Caps each of the past four times that they have met in the playoffs.
Here are the main takeaways:
– Special teams were a huge part of the game, as they have been throughout the series. The Rangers scored three power-play goals, including Panarin’s third-period tie-breaker. Overall, the Rangers were 6-for-16 (37.5%) with a man advantage in the series while their penalty-kill unit continually frustrated the Caps. The Rangers killed two penalties Sunday night and were 15-for-17 (88.2%) in the series.
– Alex Ovechkin led the Caps with 31 goals during the regular season and he’s one of the greatest scorers in NHL history, sitting behind only Wayne Gretzky on the all-time goals list. But the Rangers did not allow him to be a factor in the series. Ovechkin did not have a point in the four games.
– The Rangers scored just 57 seconds into the game, thanks in large part to a bad giveaway by Caps defenseman Nick Jensen, who made his first appearance in the series. Under pressure from Will Cuylle’s forecheck, Jensen’s turnover put the puck on Kakko’s stick in the slot. He fired it past Washington goalie Charlie Lindgren for an unassisted goal. Kakko was the 10th different Ranger to score a goal in the series, showing the remarkable depth of the Blueshirts. It was also the fourth playoff goal of Kakko’s career.
– The first period, especially early on, was played at a frenetic pace, with both teams creating chances and zipping from end to end. It was great action and the Caps had a couple of early chances, but Shesterkin turned them away. Mika Zibanejad bungled into a turnover that gave Dylan Strome the puck in the middle about 20 seconds after Kakko’s goal, but Shesterkin got his glove on it. About 10 minutes or so later, Shesterkin stopped Tom Wilson in front, point blank, and sprawled to get into position to save a rebound chance, but Wilson’s try hit the side of the net.
– The Caps — who seemed to want to play defensive, low-scoring hockey in the three previous games of the series — were a lot more wide open Sunday night. It paid off with 5:06 left in the first period when the Rangers struggled to clear the puck and Aliaksei Protas found Martin Fehervary alone on Shesterkin’s right and Fehervary netted his second goal of the series, knotting the score at 1.
– But the Rangers, as they have all season, responded, though they had to endure a scary moment first. Adam Fox went down in pain after he and Jensen bashed knees with 1:09 left in the first. Fox was favoring his right leg, but he did not skate off the ice, instead trying to skate off the injury before going to the bench. Ultimately, he sat down and Jensen was given a two-minute penalty for tripping. Fox returned to the ice about 45 seconds into the man-advantage.
– The Rangers took a 2-1 lead later in the power play, scoring with 14.7 seconds left in the period. Trocheck finished the play by scoring from in front after some pretty passing, including the primary feed from Zibanejad, who was beside the net. It was Trocheck’s third goal of the series. Panarin also got an assist on the play.
– Then things got weird/violent. The Caps were, apparently, unhappy about Fox going down after he got hit and Wilson, who had been yapping at Fox, grabbed the Ranger defenseman as Fox went to celebrate the goal. Fox’s helmet tumbled off as a scrum bloomed. Wilson was the only player penalized – he got two minutes for roughing – so the Rangers were immediately back on the power play, though they couldn’t cash in.
– Washington dominated the second period and large chunks of it were played in the Rangers’ end. For the first 12 minutes or so of the period, the Rangers only had one shot on goal, though they finished with seven for the period. The Caps got an equalizing goal with 12:12 left in the period on a nifty play by Hendrix Lapierre, who skated around Ryan Lindgren and fired a shot at Shesterkin, who stopped it. But the goalie couldn’t track the rebound and Lapierre did, putting in his first career playoff goal. It could’ve been worse — the Rangers killed a penalty earlier in the period, but Washington might have scored without terrific defensive plays by Trocheck and Jimmy Vesey.
Who’s the MVP?
Panarin, who scored the goal that snapped a 2-2 tie early in the third period, and also had an assist. The goal was the 18th of his playoff career.
Highlights
What’s next
The Rangers play the Hurricanes or Islanders in the second round. The Hurricanes are up 3-1 on the Islanders entering Tuesday’s 7:30 p.m. Game 5 at Carolina.
