NEW YORK, NY – The New York Rangers dropped a 3-0 third-period lead to the Washington Capitals on Wednesday night, falling behind 3-1 in their first-round series to a double-overtime, 4-3 defeat at Madison Square Garden. Artem Anisimov, Marian Gaborik and Brandon Dubinsky all scored in the second period to stake the Rangers to a strong 3-0 advantage over a stunned Capitals team. Anisimov banked a shot past Neuvirth off of Karl Alzner’s skate, Gaborik converted a Ruslan Fedotenko backhand pass at the far post and Dubinsky fired home six seconds later on a wide open rebound after Neuvirth had denied Fedotenko. The Rangers controlled the game at this point, earning powerplay opportunities and out-hitting their opponents in all areas of the ice. Extra-man opportunities were to ultimately cost the Rangers though, as they have all series and as they have all season. The Blueshirts failed twice on the powerplay to even gain the blueline, dumping the puck from neutral ice but rarely managing to win the footrace in behind the net. Washington, looking at a 2-2 tied series heading back to the Verizon Center on Saturday, came out with real jump in the third and had pulled to within one goal early in the period. Alex Semin tapped the puck in from under the crossbar after Henrik Lundqvist hadn’t been deemed in control of the puck following a previous cover-up, 60 seconds before young center Marcus Johansson scored in-front from Brooks Laich’s cross-crease pass. Johansson would tie the game with his second goal of the playoffs at the halfway point of the third period, deflecting John Carlson’s one-timer at the top of the crease beyond the Rangers goaltender. Carlson in particular came on strong in the third as the Caps’ loosened the shackles and pushed their defense forward in to the attack. The game required double overtime to separate the teams, the winning goal ultimately scored by Jason Chimera after a mix-up between Lundqvist and Gaborik. Chimera received a drop-pass as he entered the Rangers’ end, firing a weak shot that was deflected toward Lundqvist in the crease. Gaborik, back checking from the previous rush, intercepted the rolling puck and knocked it behind Lundqvist, off of Chimera and down on to the goal-line where the former Columbus Blue Jacket knocked it in for the win. Needless to say Lundqvist, 49 saves through just over 92 minutes, looked crestfallen. Mentally it’s a game the Rangers need to clear from their heads as they move forward to a must-win Game 5 in Washington on Saturday. How exactly does a young, inexperienced team bounce-back from losing a game despite leading 3-0? We’ll see. Contact the author – alex.nunn@prohockeynews.com
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