Rangers rally, but lose in OT

In Washington, DC, the visiting New York Rangers were coming off an emotional win Saturday afternoon in Manhattan,

Mats Zuccarello was traded away Saturday and the Rangers defeated the New Jersey Devils.

On Sunday, they faced even tougher opposition in the Capitals.

Chris Kreider struck for an early goal for the Rangers to give them a 1-0 lead with just 21 seconds off the clock in the first period.

The Caps responded with three straight goals to take a 3-1 lead in the second period.

The Rangers rallied and it took Brady Skjei‘s second strike of the game with 31 seconds on the clock in the third to force extra time.

“Listen, it’s been an emotional 48, 72 hours for everybody and that felt really good, that goal,” coach David Quinn said.

The relief was short-lived as Evgeny Kuznetsov picked up the game-winner with 40 seconds left in the extra session to give the Caps a 6-5 win.

Alex Ovechkin had a poke at the puck as well.

“It doesn’t matter,” Kuznetsov said. “I don’t think it matters who scores, right? As long as we got a win.”

Nicklas Backstrom scored twice and Michal Kempny, Tom Wilson and Nic Dowd added single markers in the win.

Pheonix Copley made 26 saves in the win.

“We’re a team that should be able to keep it 5-3 if we’re up by two, but obviously they’re opportunistic,” Washington’s Carl Hagelin said. “They found a way to get back in the game and then our leaders stepped up and got us a game-winner.”

Jimmy Vesey and Vladimir Namestnikov also scored for the Rangers who dropped to 27-26-9.

“[Coach] has been preaching to get pucks through and get pucks to the net. If mine have been finding a way to sneak through and get in I don’t know if it’s luck or what,” Skjei said. “I keep focusing getting pucks through that first layer and even if they don’t go in, if they create rebounds that’s good.”

[WATCH: All Rangers vs. Capitals highlights]

Henrik Lundqvist made 29 saves in the loss.

“There’s an awful lot of good to take out of tonight. Especially we had some unbelievable chances in the overtime,” Quinn said. ” The fact that we fought back from two goal deficits twice. We competed and battled…we weren’t pushed around physically or mentally.”