The Washington Capitals had a back-to-back rematch with the New York Rangers to win if they wanted to extend their winning streak to eight games. Could they get to that nice, even number?
Pavel Buchnevich tapped home a pass from Adam Fox on a set faceoff play to open the scoring. No scoring in the second. John Carlson from in tight slotted home a backhand past Keith Kinkaid to tie things up. Mika Zibanejad continued his torture of the Caps, giving the Rangers a very late 2-1 lead. Howden empty netter.
Rangers beat Caps 3-1.
- The first period wasn’t bad by any means from a Capitals POV but it was sure boring. The Caps couldn’t get anything going on two power-play opportunities and let the Rangers grab the first goal of the game via a perfectly executed set faceoff play. That power play has not converted once against the Rangers this season.
- Congrats to Evgeny Kuznetsov for playing in his 500th career NHL game. It feels like just yesterday we were all watching him tear apart the KHL and World Junior Classic as a youngster. Congrats to Richard Panik as well for playing in his 500th career NHL game. Jacob Trouba of the Rangers also played in his 500th career game tonight. That feels incredibly unlikely and very weird to happen for three players in one game.
- I want some more takes on this from you readers and commenters. I think Evgeny Kuznetsov should be moved to the first power-play unit. No disrespect to Jakub Vrana, I just think you need to capitalize (lol) on Kuznetsov’s superior offensive strengths. He was almost built to play with more time and space.
Feels like the first game was only yesterday.
Congrats on 500, @Kuzya92! #ALLCAPS | @LeidosInc pic.twitter.com/M6V6EuDHmr
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) March 20, 2021
- It felt like the Caps had the puck all of the second period but just could not find a way to trouble Keith Kinkaid. Another fruitless power play did not help as something about the Rangers penalty kill really must throw the Caps power play out of whack.
- Alex Ovechkin went down the tunnel midway through the second period apparently accompanied by trainer Jason Serbus. Four minutes later he was back on the bench. Y’all already know the thing because you had to type this site’s name in to get here.
- Tom Wilson is back from his suspension and his boys serenaded him in the tunnel before hitting ice for warmups.
- In some weird jersey news, Willy’s Reverse Retro jersey was missing the NHL shield on the collar. If I really wanted to clickbait YouTuber this I would start claiming this was some form of protest against The Man.
What is your Taco Bell take of the night? (On the fast-food establishment not the hockey game)
— RMNB (@russianmachine) March 20, 2021
- The Caps were very, very good in the third period as well. Really liked the overall game from the boys even though they didn’t get much on the scoreboard. Unlucky losers in my opinion.
- The shift that led to John Carlson‘s goal was absolute perfection. Nicklas Backstrom, Tom Wilson, Jakub Vrana, and Brenden Dillon (who I thought had a great night until that whole thing at the end) were the other contributors. Show that at every youth hockey clinic ever.
- Let’s go Terps!
- The win streak ends at seven. It was fun.
#JoeBSuitOfTheNight #CapsRangers This is the caramel truffle of @JoeBpXp's wardrobe pic.twitter.com/SuBllkUO3v
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) March 20, 2021
The Caps don’t play again for another five days so it will probably feel like an entirely new season when they drop the puck against the Devils on Thursday.
Full RMNB Coverage of Caps vs Rangers
Screenshot courtesy of NBC Sports Washington
