T.J. Oshie scored the tiebreaking goal with 11:31 remaining in the third period and the host Washington Capitals rallied for a 3-2 victory over the slumping New York Rangers on Saturday afternoon.
Oshie and Nic Dowd scored 1:53 apart to help the Capitals beat the Rangers for the second time in three meetings and improve to 3-5-2 in their past 10 games. Oshie and Dowd also helped send the Rangers to a season-high fourth straight loss.
Oshie got his 45th career game-winning goal following a failed steal attempt by New York defenseman Adam Fox. Fox tried to force a turnover near the blue line in the Washington offensive zone but Dylan Strome kept possession, sped to the bottom of the left circle and his centering pass to Oshie turned into an easy tap-in at the right side of the crease.
Before Oshie scored his third goal, Dowd tied it on a similar play off a feed from Evgeny Kuznetsov. Kuznetsov sped into the offensive zone, circled the net, banked the puck off the end boards. Dowd finished the sequence by batting Kuznetsov’s centering pass into the net from the right doorstep while being hounded from behind by New York’s K’Andre Miller and Barclay Goodrow.
Anthony Mantha also scored as the Capitals withstood the absence of Alex Ovechkin. Ovechkin sat out with a lower leg injury he initially sustained Jan. 5 when he got tangled up with Carolina’s Jordan Staal.
Charlie Lindgren beat the Rangers for the second time this season by making 25 saves in his first start since Dec. 29. He also was aided by a defense who blocked 22 New York shots and protected the lead with a point-blank glove save on Jimmy Vesey with about four minutes left during a Washington power play.
Fox scored twice for his second career multi-goal game but the Rangers fell to 8-9-1 in their past 18 games.
New York goalie Jonathan Quick made 18 saves.
Fox opened the scoring when his centering pass from the right side of the crease for Mika Zibanejad caromed off defenseman Nick Jensen’s skate, allowing for an easy second chance into the vacated right side of the net with 6:37 left in the first.
Mantha finished off a breakaway with 2:10 left in the first after forcing a turnover by Miller in the defensive zone. But Fox made it 2-1 5:15 into the second by ripping a slap shot through traffic from above the left circle.
–Field Level Media
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