Caps 4, Rangers 3 (2 OT)
No one knows better than the Caps that a series isn’t over at 3-1. Seriously. No one. From Craig Laughlin to Alex Ovechkin, this organization hasn’t always handled prosperity well.
[New York] has battled all year. There’s no doubt in my mind that in the two days off they’re going to regroup,” Washington coach Bruce Boudreau said. “If we think we have this won by any stretch of the imagination, we’re in deep trouble. I think we were in this situation a little while ago.”
That they were. But forget all that negative history for a moment. Down and out at 3-0, somehow the Caps willed themselves to victory. Two quick goals from Alex Semin and Marcus Johansson were the key. That put the pressure on New York early in the third period. You can read the rest of the details in our game story here.
“They believed. They’ve done it a lot this year. We haven’t been a high-scoring team, but quite frankly we’ve come back, I think, eight times to win and two or three other times to tie,” Boudreau said. “They haven’t forgotten that they scored a lot of goals last year. We play a little differently when we are behind, but I believe that they believe because they’re a great character group.”
Noted before the game that Washington’s players still seemed loose at the morning skate despite the momentum shift the series took after Sunday’s Game 3 loss at Madison Square Garden. That continued on the bench during the game as the crowd serenaded Boudreau with chants.
“No, it was good. They’re passionate people. It was great,” Chimera said. “You knew they were going to respond well. It’s great to play here. The atmosphere was great tonight and both teams fed off it. It was a fun game to play in. We were laughing quite a bit on the bench when they were saying ‘Shut up, Bruce’ before the puck dropped. It was pretty funny. Then ‘Can you hear us?’ was pretty good, too.”
Goalie Michal Neuvirth shook off those three New York goals, the bedlam in the Garden and a hand cramp and kept his team in it.
“He’s not ordinary,” Boudreau said with a smile of his 23-year-old rookie. Neuvirth finished with 36 saves, including handful of huge ones in the third period and both overtimes. He more than matched Henrik Lundqvist, who had 49 saves, including a brilliant pad stop on Ovechkin during a breakaway in overtime.
“We had a little team meeting – the leaders, they were talking to us and [Ovechkin] – and we had to step up,” Neuvirth said. “ I think we weren’t very sharp in the second period, but we knew we had done it so many times in the season and we came back, and we prove it again tonight.”
Chimera was relieved that he made up for a pair of goals against in the second. Boudreau scolded himself for not calling timeout after Gaborik’s and changing the top line. Instead, he left the line on the ice – Chimera, Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom – and New York scored again seven seconds later, one shy of the franchise record. Chimera was dropped to the third line with rookie Marcus Johansson and Eric Fehr and that group found some quick chemistry. In the end, it paid off.
“Just make a difference. You want to be the guy to make a difference,” Chimera said of his thoughts entering both overtime periods. “Like I said, we kind of got scored on twice in a row in the second period and that shouldn’t happen. Just wanted to make a difference, be that guy who wins it for your team. There’s no better feeling that’s for sure.”
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