Rangers looked like a team prepared to face the team with the highest score in their division.
With a difficult schedule battle ahead of them, the Rangers began their climb with a 4-2 victory over the mighty Capitals at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night.
The Rangers have not overlooked that the rest of February will serve as a litmus test for a playoff spot in the loaded east. But coach David Quinn wants his team to focus on one game at a time, and Rangers went into this game and played as if the Capitals were the only team in their mind.
Behind Ryan Strome’s two goals, Rangers won their first consecutive wins of the season by matching Washington’s weight along the tables and playing a strong 60-meter game for the 60 minutes.
Pavel Buchnevich’s empty ball proved to be the safe count and sealed the victory.
Rangers goalkeeper Igor Shesterkin followed the record well for most of the night, starting with a partial stop by Alex Ovechkin to kick off the game. The debutant goalkeeper, who finished with 31 saves, gave up goals only to Carl Hagelin, in a puck hitting at 18:57 of the second, and to Ovechkin, in a snipe in the middle of the third that made the match 3-2.
Ovechkin’s 709th career goal gave him exclusive possession of seventh place on the all-time NHL goal list.
Washington increased the pressure after playing a one-goal game in the second and third periods. With a sharp penalty for Brett Howden with 10 seconds remaining in the second half, the Capitals had the advantage of starting the third.
But the Rangers extended their string of blocked penalties, smothering all four capitals’ power moves to bring the unit to a perfect 13-to-13 in the last three games.
The Rangers had one of their first most complete periods of the season, leaving with a 1-0 advantage. Strome deflected a shot from Adam Fox at 1:41 and the Rangers managed to protect him, maintaining the pressure and adding opportunity after opportunity.
Anthony Bitetto scored his first goal since November 2017 after attacking the net and finishing with a backhand shot at 9:15 of the second to put Rangers 2-0. Kevin Rooney won the assist in the game, extending his sequence of points for three games.