They returned to the visiting locker room at Madison Square Garden and sat in sullen silence. The Capitals spent an entire opening playoff series playing hockey the right way. But some of that commitment disappeared in a 3-1 loss to the New York Rangers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Saturday, and the players knew it.
“We were like, ‘That’s not going to cut it.’ That’s not good enough,’?” forward Jay Beagle said. “I think we’ll come back [Monday] with hopefully our best game of the playoffs and come out and really show how we can play.”
It took a high level to oust the defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins in the conference quarterfinals. The Caps apparently need to find an even higher one if they want to beat the Rangers, who were the No. 1 seed in the conference. That means more patience in the neutral zone, better defensive communication, faster puck movement, quicker shots on goal and fewer sloppy line changes when the two teams meet for Game 2 in New York.
| Up next |
| Capitals at Rangers |
| When » Monday, 7:30 p.m. |
| Where » Madison Square |
| Garden, New York |
| TV » NBCSN |
“[Saturday] was a good learning experience maybe. I thought just knowing that it’s a different team, you’ve got to up the ante a little bit more and bring the next level,” Washington forward Joel Ward said. “I don’t know whether we … thought that it was just going to be the same old, same series. But against a different team, it’s a bigger monster. They finished first, and that was for a reason.”
It’s not that the Caps played a bad game, either. After Jason Chimera scored on a beautiful saucer pass from Brooks Laich late in the second period, the game was tied 1-1 heading into the third period. New York had managed just eight shots on goal at that point and finished with just 14. The roaring Garden crowd was neutralized — at least a bit. But two critical defensive breakdowns on goals by rookie winger Chris Kreider and veteran center Brad Richards gave the Rangers the two chances they needed.
Richards’ goal was a miscommunication between Laich and Chimera, and they left defenseman Dennis Wideman covering two players in front of the net. The other was a poor line change with Mike Green trying to leave the ice and Wideman unsure whether he needed to jump on. That gave Kreider a wide open slap shot from 40 feet, and rookie goalie Braden Holtby was a little too far out of his crease to stop it.
“With [Saturday], you saw more of the Washington Capitals from the regular season than the Capitals from the last couple games and playoffs,” defenseman Karl Alzner said. “We had a couple … mistakes and mental errors, and [New York] scored goals. The team’s too good to have that. It’s frustrating when that creeps back in.”
