It is a storyline all too familiar in recent weeks for the Capitals. They received solid goaltending from Olie Kolzig, kept defensive mistakes to a minimum and had a golden chance to leave New York with a rare victory over the Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
But, fielding a lineup again missing three key players, the offensive struggles continued for the Caps during a 2-0 loss. Rangers forward Chris Drury scored the game’s first goal in the second period. But New York goalie Henrik Lundqvist was the star of the night, stopping all 31 shots he faced for his third shutout of the season.
The Caps (5-7) lost for the seventh consecutive time at Madison Square Garden and have now dropped seven of nine contests since starting the season 3-0.
Washington, which played without defenseman Tom Poti (groin), forward Chris Clark (ear laceration) and forward Alexander Semin (ankle), didn’t take its first penalty of the game until forward Michael Nylander was whistled for hooking at 4:37 of the third period with his team down 1-0.
The Caps killed that power play chance. But they weren’t so lucky later in the period when on one play defenseman John Erskine (elbowing) and forward Brian Sutherby (hooking) drew penalties on the same play. It took just 27 seconds for Michael Rozsival to knock home a pass from teammate Scott Gomez for the 2-0 lead. Lundqvist did the rest. With shouts of “Henrik” reigning down from the Garden faithful, he stoned the Caps time and again on a four-minute power play late in the third period. Washington outshot the Rangers 31-28, but to no avail.
On the air
The Capitals announced Thursday that Comcast SportsNet and Cox Communications, the major cable television provider in Fairfax County, have reached an agreement to add CSN+ to the Cox lineup. Previously, Cox subscribers were shut out when Caps games aired on CSN+, the overflow channel when Comcast SportsNet has scheduling conflicts. Games will air on CSN+ beginning tonight when the Caps host Philadelphia.
