The Washington Capitals and New York Rangers played another thrilling rivalry game for the TNT national audience. The Caps would prevail in overtime 3-2 to get the win at Madison Square Garden.
A late comeback and an overtime tally
Tom Wilson would set up Pierre-Luc Dubois at 1:04 for PLD's 16th goal of the season and Wilson's 21st assist on the season. Artemi Panarin would tie at at 13:37 for his 26th goal of the season. 1-1 would be the score after one with the Caps leading 8-7 in shots.
At the 8:05 mark in the second period, the Rangers went ahead 2-1. Caps led in shots 7-6 in the middle stanza. In the third period the Caps led in shots 8-3 and would get the tying marker from who else?
On the power play Alex Ovechkin struck at 10:28 for his 32nd goal of the season for the 885th goal of his career giving him just nine away from tying and 10 away from passing Wayne Gretzky for the most goals all time. Andrew Mangiapane and Ethen Frank set him up for their 10th and third assists, respectively.
The Caps had the edge in shots 3-1 in the overtime and Wilson would win the game at the 4:07 mark with Dylan Strome setting him up. It was Wilson's 28th goal of the season and Strome's 43rd assist. Charlie Lindgren would get the win in goal as he made 15 saves for an .882 save percentage. Caps outshot the Rangers 26-17.
"That wasn't our best, but good resiliency as always. It's a good one to have when it's not going your way as much as maybe we're used to -- digging it out, working through it and staying with it. "John Carlson
"I just wanted to get the puck to 'Stromer' just because he's got such good poise and he's a great facilitator with the puck. I knew if it was open he'd try to get it back. I made sure if he was going to pass I back that I would put it in. He made an amazing play and left me with an open net. "Tom Wilson
The win improved the Capitals record to 40-14-8 with 88 points. It was their 40th win in their 62nd game of the season which is the fourth fewest games needed to reach the mark in franchise history. The 88 points draws Washington even steven with the Winnipeg Jets for the top spot in the NHL.
The Caps are off on Thursday but will return to game action on Friday night at 7 p.m. when they host the Detroit Red Wings from Capital One Arena on Monumental Sports Network as well as 106.7 The Fan and Caps Radio 24/7.