NEW YORK — It was an experience the Capitals never wanted to go through again. But here they were at Madison Square Garden getting skated off the ice by the New York Rangers – this time in a Stanley Cup playoff game.
The Rangers scored three times in the second period – goals by forwards Marian Gaborik and Brandon Dubinsky coming just seven seconds apart. But instead of wilting, the Caps fought back. Goals by Alex Semin and Marcus Johansson early in the third period and another by Johansson late set the stage for an epic comeback. Jason Chimera finally produced the game-winner at 12:36 of double overtime to lift Washington to a stunning 4-3 victory.
| EASTERN CONFERENCE QUARTERFINALS |
| Caps vs. Rangers |
| (Washington leads series 3-1) |
| Game 1 » WAS 2, NYR 1 (OT) |
| Game 2 » WAS 2, NYR 0 |
| Game 3 » NYR 3, WAS 2 |
| Game 4 » WAS 4, NYR 3 (2OT) |
| Game 5 » Sat. at WAS, 3 p.m. |
| Game 6 » Mon. at NYR, TBD* |
| Game 7 » Apr. 27 at WAS, TBD* |
| * If necessary |
The Caps take a 3-1 series lead into Game 5 at Verizon Center on Saturday afternoon. Semin and Johansson scored just 57 seconds apart early in the third period to trim the 3-0 New York lead to 3-2 and quiet the raucous Madison Square Garden crowd. Johansson – the 20-year-old rookie playing his first season in North America – then tipped home a John Carlson shot just after a power play expired at 12:07 to tie it at 3.
The two teams traded chances throughout the first and second overtimes. But in the end Johansson chipped the puck off the boards in neutral ice and Chimera used his speed to drive at New York goalie Henrik Lundqvist (49 saves). A shot popped off the stick of defenseman Dan Girardi, eventually hit Chimera’s chest and dropped to the ice in a perfect spot.
“Anytime you score an overtime game-winner in the playoffs there’s no better feeling,” said Chimera, who also scored a goal in Game 1. “It was one of those ones it hit my chest and kind of went down. I was thinking it would be no goal. I didn’t know what was going on. But it hit my chest and went down to my stick. It was nice. It was a good effort by us in the third period. What a comeback.”
After a scoreless first period, the parallels of a 7-0 whipping at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 12 – and a 6-0 loss to the Rangers in the District on Feb. 25 – were obvious. But this time, the New York crowd was in rare form. Insulted by comments from Washington coach Bruce Boudreau on a local radio station earlier this week about the relatively mild noise at the Garden, the sell-out crowd serenaded the Caps with chants of “Can you hear us?”, among other more profane turns of phrase directed at Boudreau.
“I might have made a mistake by saying what I said,” Boudreau admitted. “Let’s leave it at that. Let’s let the players decide this and not worry about how I felt or what the crowd felt like.”
Both teams came out hard in the first period, combining for 29 hits and 10 blocked shots. But neither could take advantage of power-play opportunities. Boudreau had lobbied early in the week for series’ officials protecting the goalies – ostensibly his own, Michal Neuvirth, who took some abuse from New York in Sunday’s Game 3. This time Rangers forward Brian Boyle was whistled for two goalie interference calls in the first period alone.
But Washington managed just three shots with the man-advantage and had another at the end of the first period squelched when Alex Ovechkin was called for interference after slipping and then holding Brandon Prust to prevent a breakaway. New York was even worse. It had two power-play chances in the first and managed just one shot on goal.
Artem Anisimov broke the deadlock at 5:24 of the second period. It was the third time in four games New York had struck first. The Rangers – fueled by their home crowd – took control of the game, generating multiple scoring chances. Finally, defenseman Karl Alzner couldn’t handle New York forward Ruslan Fedotenko, who drove around the net and whipped a pass to Gaborik for the easy tap-in. Down 2-0, Washington wasn’t mentally ready for the ensuing faceoff. New York pushed it into the offensive zone and Dubinsky slammed home a rebound off the boards for a 3-0 lead that wouldn’t last.
