Washington Capitals collapse in third period against Rangers
The Washington Capitals had an early 2-0 lead. Then the New York Rangers went on to score five unanswered goals including four in the third period. The Caps third period woes continued for the second game in a row after blowing a 4-0 lead the other day to nearly fall to the Rangers.
The Caps got on the power play when Kevin Rooney was called for holding Nick Jensen. On the attack T.J. Oshie got a look right in front of the net and buried it in for his ninth goal of the season at 2:23. Nicklas Backstrom and John Carlson had the helpers.
The Caps doubled their lead at 4:22 with a scramble in front of the net. Brenden Dillon shot it and Garnet Hathaway and Nic Dowd poked at it. Dowd was able to poke it in for his seventh of the season.
The Rangers got on the board with a goal from Filip Chytil at 15:36. 2-1 was the score after one with the Caps leading in shots 12-10. The second period was scoreless with the Caps having the edge in shots 10-6. In the third period, things began to fall apart.
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The Rangers tied the game at 4:10 with a goal from Kaapo Kakko. At 6:32, they took the lead with a goal from Adam Fox. Artemi Panarin made it good measure at 15:41 and Pavel Buchnevich finished off the scoring with a shorthanded goal.
Caps head coach Peter Laviolette told the media via Samantha Pell of The Washington Post (subscription required):
“Tonight I just thought we were inconsistent. We had guys that were not on the mark. Big mistakes. I thought we did fly-bys on too many pucks. We didn’t compete hard enough on the pucks, turnovers, turned pucks over and big chances back in the different direction.”
The Rangers outshot the Caps 11-10 in the third period with the Caps having the edge 32-27 overall. Vitek Vanecek made 22 saves in the loss.
Lars Eller returned to the lineup after being out for weeks with a lower body injury. It created a tough decision for Laviolette but to the delight of Caps fans, it wasn’t Daniel Sprong being the odd man out. Instead, it was Richard Panik who was sitting in the press box.
Laviolette added:
“It comes down to tough decisions. Richard was the odd man out today, and I think that when you are evaluating everything, you got to put yourself in a position to stay in the lineup.”
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The Caps will continue their New York road trip with a contest against the New York Islanders on Thursday night.