Greetings from the press box high above the ice at Verizon Center. While I'm up top Ellen Blanchard is down low in her photo hole in Section 102. If you're ever sitting in that neighborhood, be sure to stop by and say hello.
It's always busier up here when the Rangers come to town, and I'm a little surprised to be sitting in the first row for a game like this one. Of course, I expect the locals to be in full voice tonight with Jaromir Jagr in town. The Rangers always draw a big crowd, with lots of New York expats showing up. Throw in the fact that it's a giveaway night, and it looks like we'll be nearly sold out for the first time in a long time.
More in a bit...
PREVIEWS: Got 'em hot and fresh!
Mike Vogel
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Capital Fanatic
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Netsrak's Official Gameday Thread
Back in a bit with the starting lineup.
STARTING LINEUPS: NEW YORK: G: Lundqvist; D: Ward and Rachunek; W: Ortmeyer and Avery; C: Cullen. CAPS: G: Kolzig; D: Eminger and Schultz; W: Bradley and Brashear; C: Sutherby. SCRATCHES: NEW YORK: Dupuis, Krog and Pock. CAPS: Nycholat, Beech and Clymer.
Other news: Dave Fay of the Washington Times is back in the box on a visit along with his wife, Pat.
Post-game recap is after the jump.
END OF FIRST PERIOD: RANGERS 1 CAPS 1: The Rangers take control of play early thanks to a 5-on-3 power play, but the Caps even it up before the end of the period thanks to a lucky bounce and some heads up play by Alex Ovechkin.
* It's not long before Avery is up to his old tricks, and Steve Eminger takes exceptions, giving the Rangers winger a couple of shots. When Avery protests, Matt Bradley makes his presence known.
* The Rangers are well on their way to controlling most of the first period, and they're going to do it by establishing their forecheck early -- such as when Marcel Hossa strips Richard Zednik down low in the Caps zone. The Rangers will outshoot the Caps 16-6 for the period.
* Jed Ortmeyer takes a tumble, and just happens to fall all over Olie Kolzig. There is no penalty. Keep this in mind for later.
* Jagr and Hossa hook up for a nice give-and-go, but Kolzig stops a Hossa slapper to keep the game scoreless.
* Things finally boil over as Sutherby clips Lundqvist on a dump in. Hollweg takes exception and challenges Suts to drop the gloves. Suts gets in one better shot, so I'll give him the fight in a decision. However, the refs ding Suts with an extra two minutes for charging. Interesting.
* And the Caps pay on the ensuing power play. Jagr send a slap shot in from the right point. Kolzig makes the stop, but the rebound comes out to Michal Rosival who send the puck back into the scrum in front of the net and past a sprawling Kolzig. 1-0, Rangers.
* The Caps are able to pull themselves back in the game thanks to Kolzig and a little bit of luck. After Ovechkin falls down at center ice while trying to gather up the puck, Ortmeyer picks up the puck and breaks in alone on Kolzig, but the big German stops him...
* On the ensuing dump-in, Lunqvist can't corral the puck behind the Rangers net, and the puck rebounds right onto the stick of an onrushing Alex Ovechkin, who puts it in the net with Lundqvist way out of position, 1-1.
END OF SECOND PERIOD: RANGERS 2 CAPS 1: Before tonight's game, Tarik El-Bashir of the Washington Post mentioned that the Caps had drawn themselves back into a defensive shell, and that's been all to apparent tonight as New York is outshooting Washington 25-12 after 2 periods. Still, New York has been unable to score at even strength, though they grabbed another power play tally to take a 2-1 into the second intermission.
* Nice defensive play: After Shaone Morrisonn blows a coverage on Jagr, Jeff Schultz slides back into space to slow up Jagr and break up a potential breakaway.
* Ortmeyer is having a nice game tonight for New York. On his latest play, he stickhandled into the Washington zone and created a nice scoring chance, though he missed the net wide on his backhand.
* With Clark in the box for a phantom roughing call, the Rangers take the lead again as Hossa jumps on a rebound from the left point and snaps it past Kolzig to make it 2-1.
* At 12:17, Colton Orr and Brashear decide to take care of some unfinished business from the last Caps-Rangers game in New York when Brendan Shanahan took on Brash in his place. Orr gets a couple of shots in on Brash, but the hometown guy holds him off, and Brash wrestles him to the ice.
* Cal Ripken is introduced and gets a raucous ovation from the fans. Note to Caps management: Peter Angelos and anyone currently associated with the Orioles, bad. Cal Ripken or any other Orioles great from the team's past, good.
* Avery gets a breakaway on Kolzig as time expires. Olie makes the stop and we're off to the locker room.
FINAL: RANGERS 5 CAPS 2: With the Caps in a defensive shell, New York gets enough power play chances to make the difference.
* Here we are, just 1:30 into the 3rd period, and we're having another glass replacement problem. With it fixed, we're off to another Caps power play.
* With Avery in the box, the Caps even it up. Alexander Semin chips the puck into the zone, and once again, a lucky bounce puts it on the stick of Chris Clark along the right wing boards. He skates in on Lunqvist unmolested, and beats him with a backhand to the stick side.
* I guess Lundqvist gets protected, while Kolzig is all on his own. That's all I can conclude after the refs give Kolzig 2 minutes for roughing at 3:26.
* And the Rangers cash in on the BS power play at 4:17. Nylander is below the right wing faceoff circle when he spies Rosival alone at the left wing point. He one-times a slapper past Kolzig to make it 3-2.
* Inside of 15 minutes, Ovechkin breaks in alone on Lundqvist, but the Swede turns aside Ovechkin's backhand chance.
* On the next stoppage, Brendan Shanahan gets a little punchy. Clark lets him know he's got a dance partner if he's interested.
* The Rangers stretch the lead to 4-2 at 6:09. Jagr is down below the goal line on the left wing boards with the puck on his backhand when he sees Martin Straka alone edging into the slot at the top of the left wing faceoff circle. He one-times it past Kolzig, 4-2.
* Big cheer when Jagr gets the gate for slashing at 14:58.
* Caps can't cash-in on the power play. Whatever changes the team made on the power play, they don't seem to be working.
* With two minutes to go, Caps pull Kolzig.
* Caps call timeout at 18:18 after Ortmeyer gets dinged for slashing, while Semin gets 2 for interference.
* Straka gets an empty-net goal with 29 seconds left to end it.
More from the locker room in a bit.
POSTGAME: As you might imagine, it was a rather somber locker room tonight. Got some interesting insights from Steve Eminger, in particular that the Caps had given "too much respect" to New York's big guns like Jagr and Straka. As for the power play, he noted that the team had a tough time getting second and third shots that you need on a power play.
Head coach Glen Hanlon was short on answers too. To tell you the truth, he looked pretty stressed up there tonight, though he made a it a point to say that the team didn't lose this game because of officiating.
There's just not a whole lot more to say here. The Rangers are a team with a lot of talent, and that's no more apparent on the power play where there's lots of movement and tape to tape passes. With the extra man, the Rangers have the sort of talent when it seems like they're always in control. And with three power play goals they scored tonight, they were just about all the time.
The Caps picked up five points on this homestand. Before it started, I thought they'd need six to credibly stay in the playoff race. They just missed, and the chance to grab that eighth spot is one point further away tonight.
Now it's back on the road, a hard place for a young team to make up ground on the rest of the pack.
