Caps stifled by Rangers in 4-1 loss

In Washington, DC, the New York Rangers found a complete, for a change, and defeated the Capitals, 4-1, on Saturday afternoon.

Igor Shesterkin made 26 saves in a solid win for the Rangers.

Mika Zibanejad snapped a 13-game goal drought with an empty-net strike on a shorthanded situation.

“If you look at his reaction, you sensed relief, and you look at reaction from some of the guys on the ice, there was relief,” Rangers head coach David Quinn said. “Listen, he’s getting out of it. It’s not going to happen overnight. He’s not going to go from where he is to where he was last year. We just need to continue to see progress and thought that was another step in the right direction today.”

Dmitry Orlov was the only Capitals’ skater to solve Shesterkin.

“It was tight out there today. The shots were low, the attempts were low, the scoring chances were low,” Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette said. “We tried to change the lines up going into the third period, we swapped a couple of centerman just to see if that might loosen it up, try to play a faster game, try not to slow it down quite as much. We couldn’t seem to get ahead of it.”

Artemi Panarin had two assists and Alexis Lafreniere, picked up his second goal of the Season for the Rangers.

“I probably might’ve put these guys (Zibanejad and Panarin) together earlier,” Quinn said. “I liked our balance on our lines today, and listen, if you don’t change things, things stay the same. Maybe I should’ve done it sooner. I certainly had been contemplating it, and I did like the balance and the look of our lines today.”

Ryan Strome gave New York a 3-0 lad less than a minute after Lafreniere had scored in the middle frame. “I knew that actually. That was pretty interesting,” Strome said. “I never thought … whenever I got drafted — I think it was almost 10 years ago — that I would have 100 points for the Islanders and Rangers with the hatred of the rivalry and all that stuff, so a pretty cool accomplishment. Not the way I thought it would have played out, but happy to be a Ranger.”

Chris Kreider scored off the power play for the Rangers in the first period for a 1-0 lead.

The goal came off a rebound of a shot from Panarin out near the blue line.

Vitek Vanecek made 20 saves in the loss.

“When you score in the last minute you hope you are going to come harder and much better [in the next period], but we didn’t and we didn’t show our game,” Orlov said. “In the [defensive] zone we were not quick enough and we just kind of take a guy and skate around … we have to be quick, faster, play better.”