Three-Goal Second Period Propels Rangers to Game One Victory
On Sunday afternoon, the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers began play in their opening-round series at Madison Square Garden. The Rangers, winners of the President's Trophy, went into the postseason with the hope of ending the infamous curse of owning the best record in the league in prior seasons. The last Presidents' Trophy winner to win the Stanley Cup was the Chicago Blackhawks in 2012–13. Meanwhile, the Capitals had to scratch and crawl their way into the last Wild-Card spot in the Eastern Conference in the final days of the regular season, beating out the Red Wings and Penguins for the coveted spot. With the Rangers looking to assert their dominance as the superior team, a three-goal second period would propel the Rangers to a 4-1 series opener win over Washington.
The first period ended in a scoreless tie despite 11 shots on goal combined from both sides. Then, at 4:17 in the second period, Rangers rookie Matt Rempe, 21, scored his first career goal of the postseason when Jimmy Vesey's deflected shot went under goaltender Charlie Lindgren's right leg. After taking a feed from Vincent Trocheck and wrist-shooting the puck into the net, Artemi Panarin would score on a 2-on-1 opportunity to give the Rangers a 2-0 lead only 33 seconds later. At 6:23, Vesey would increase the Rangers lead to 3-0 after his shot was deflected off Capitals defenseman John Carlson and past Lindgren. The Capitals would get on the board at 7:31 of the middle frame to cut their deficit to 3-1 after Martin Fehervary deflected a pass from Tom Wilson past goalie Igor Shesterkin and into the net. In the third period, the Capitals would make their push to try and make a comeback attempt but Chris Kreider would seal the Rangers victory with 3:43 left in regulation after receiving a pass from Mika Zibanejad and scoring on a breakaway backhand shot that went past Lindgren’s outstretched left leg for the 4-1 final score.
The ability of the Rangers to contain Alex Ovechkin, the captain of the Capitals, and keep him from getting any shots on goal was a key factor in their victory in Game One. Ovechkin was held without a shot on goal in a postseason game for just the fourth time in his illustrious career. Matt Rempe talked about the significance of his first-ever playoff goal and his team's early lead in the series after the victory. "I’ll always remember it," Rempe went on, "It didn’t really kick in and then you hear the crowd. It was a dream come true. It was unreal." In Game Two on Tuesday night at MSG against the Capitals, the Rangers and Rempe will try to build on their victory in Game One.
