NEW YORK – Marcus Johansson helped propel his team Tuesday night over the New York Rangers 4-1 with two goals and an assist. Braden Holtby made 29 saves while Henrik Lundqvist stopped 34 of 38 shots.
The Rangers opened the scoring in the first off of some beautiful tic-tac-toe passing that found Brady Skei’s stick for the tip in at 5:08. After carrying it into the zone, Skjei dished the puck to his left to J.T Miller who found Adam Clendening on the far right side joining the rush who one-touch passed it to Skjei alone in front of the net. The goal was Skjei’s third of the year.
The second period was a completely different beast, as the Capitals controlled the majority of play. Their persistence and aggressiveness on the forecheck paid off when Johansson would slam home a rebound off a shot from Dimitri Orlov at 7:28 of the second period.
The Rangers seemed to regain the lead off a poke in by Michael Grabner in front of the net but an offsides challenge by Capitals coach Barry Trotz would reverse the on-ice decision.
The win tonight gave Trotz his 700th career win.
The Rangers were sluggish and slower than Washington all period and it showed. They were outshot 19-9 and seemingly beat to every lose puck in a corner, no matter the side of the ice.
With less than four minutes left in the second, Brett Connelly gave the Capitals their first lead of the game after a choppy break-in led to a slam dunk opportunity in front.
The rest was smooth sailing for the league leading Caps as Johansson and Nicklas Backstrom provided third period tallies to seal the deal.
The biggest story of the night was of course newly acquired Capitals Kevin Shattenkirk’s first game in the red sweater. As one of the leading trade deadline targets, Shattenkirk was receiving attention from the Bruins, Penguins and their Monday night opponent New York Rangers.
He did not record a point, but did notch four shots in 17:16 of ice time.
Holtby’s win extended his streak to 19 games of giving his team at least a point.
The Rangers next game will be in Boston against the Bruins on Thursday at 7pm. Newly acquired defenseman Brandon Smith is expected to join the team.
The Capitals will head across the river to New Jersey to face the Devils on Thursday as well at 7pm.
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