T.J. Oshie comes up clutch for Capitals in big win over Rangers
Down 2-1 entering the third period, the Washington Capitals scored twice in the third to take down the mighty Metropolitan Division leading New York Rangers.
The Washington Capitals did what they had to do this weekend, get two points in the back to back against the New York Rangers to remain in the hunt for the playoffs during the all important January stretch. The question is, can they do it again tomorrow afternoon in a sea of blue?
The Capitals won this game without Alex Ovechkin as he deals with a lower body injury. The third period heroics came from Nic Dowd to tie it and T.J. Oshie to win it in his second game back from his own injury that he suffered in mid December.
Charlie Lindgren got the nod in goal over Darcy Kuemper. He faced his brother, a defenseman Ryan who actually was very noticable throughout the game and got into it in the early going with Dowd. His brother Charlie was undeterred by the deficit and finished with 25 saves while the Caps snapped out of the early funk.
The Caps initally had a hard time containing Adam Fox as he scored twice at 13:23 in the first and 5:15 in the second. The Caps tied it late in the first at 17:50 as Anthony Mantha bypassed last year's goal total mark with his 12th of the season. Connor McMichael had the apple.
Lindgren also got penalized in the second for tripping against Nick Jensen. The Caps were outshot 8-5 in the first while outshooting the Rangers 10-9 in the second. The Caps trailed in shots 10-6 but Lindgren was perfect. Caps were outshot 27-21 overall.
Dowd's goal came on a batted deflection on an Evgeny Kuznetsov shot with John Carlson providing the secondary. It was Dowd's seventh of the season and third goal in four games. During the Hockey Talks Mental Health Awareness promotional video, which was the home game theme today, he said that he likes to surround himself with positive people. Same here. Tying mark came at 6:36.
Oshie's winner was a great play where he was wide open by the net to sneak one past Jonathan Quick backhanded. Dylan Strome and Joel Edmundson assisted and the sold out crowd broke into singing Country Roads. Just an overall big win and a great day.
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They go again tomorrow. Same time. Different place and TV channel.