Washington Capitals protect home ice in a win over the New York Rangers on National TV
The Washington Capitals defeated the New York Rangers 7-4 on Saturday afternoon at Capital One Arena. Alex Ovechkin scored in the Nationally Televised game to pull himself to within 22 of tying Wayne Grezky and 23 to pass him.
Chris Kreider got the scoring started at the seven minute mark with his 13th goal of the season. Dylan Strome would knot the score with his 12th of the season at 18:46 on the power play as Jakob Chychrun added his 15th assist and Tom Wilson notched his 14th.
Shots in the first period were 11-10 in favor of the Rangers. In the second shots were even at eight apiece. Lars Eller gave the Caps the lead at 2:29 for his seventh of the year. Martin Fehervary notched his eighth assist while Trevor van Riemsdyk added his 13th.
At 10:08 it was Andrew Magiapane with his ninth goal of the season. Nic Dowd assisted with his fifth while Rasmus Sandin had his 13th. Sam Carrick made it a 3-2 game at 16:26. At 18:13 the Caps would answer with a power play goal from Connor McMichael for his 17th of the season. Strome added his team leading 31st assist on the year and Mangiapane notched his seventh apple.
4-2 was the score after two periods. In the third the Rangers outshot the Caps 14-10 to outshoot them 33-28 overall. Logan Thompson was brilliant in goal as he finished with 29 saves on those 33 shots for a .879 save percentage.
At 8:32 Filip Chytil made it a 4-3 game with his eighth of the season. But number eight had an answer for the Rangers really fast at the 10:50 mark as Alex Ovechkin struck for his 19th goal of the season, assisted by Strome for his 32nd to put the Great Eight at 22 from tying Wayne Gretzky and 23 away from passing him.
Mika Zibinaejad then got his eighth goal of the season at 13:04 to make it a 5-4 game. Aliaksei Protas answered with his 17th goal of the season at the 14 minute mark with Pierre-Luc Dubois adding his 25th assist of the season while Jakob Chychrun notched his 16th.
At 19:22 Tom Wilson would put it away with an empty net goal. Ovechkin picked up his 11th assist on the year while Fehervary had his ninth. 7-4 would be the final. Next up for the Caps is a Monday night contest in Buffalo against the Sabres. Puck drop is at 7 p.m. on Monumental Sports Network as well as NHL Network.
