Capitals 7, Rangers 3
NEW YORK -- Left winger Marcus Johansson and right winger Justin Williams' three-point efforts sparked the Washington Capitals to a 7-3 rout of the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden Sunday night in New York.
Center Evgeny Kuznetsov, right winger TJ Oshie, left winger Alex Ovechkin and left winger Jason Chimera scored for the 24-6-2 Capitals.
Goaltender Braden Holtby made 33 saves.
New York dropped to 19-12-4 with its third straight loss. Right winger J.T. Miller, left winger Chris Kreider and defenseman Dan Boyle scored for the Rangers.
Goaltenders Henrik Lundqvist and Magnus Hellberg combined to allow all seven Washington goals on 30 shots.
Lundqvist was pulled after yielding five goals on 24 shots in two periods. Hellberg made one stop in his first NHL game.
He replaced Lundqvist at the start of the third period, and promptly surrendered goals to Chimera and Johansson.
New York had surged in the first period. Washington repaid the favor in the second period.
Kuznetsov cut the deficit to 3-2 with his 10th of the season 5:25 into the second. Oshie tied the game at 7:01 with his 13th of the season, and Washington went ahead 4-3 on Ovechkin's power-play goal at 11:03. Williams' power-play goal with 59.4 left in the period pushed the lead to 5-3.
Washington scored its four goals in the second period on 17 shots, and went into intermission with a 5-3 lead.
New York went into the first intermission with a 3-1 lead on the strength of back-to-back-to-back goals from Miller, Kreider and Boyle in a span of 4:21.
Washington actually opened the scoring on Williams' ninth of the season at 12:03. The sequence began with defenseman Taylor Chorney skating down the left side untouched. He fired a shot that Williams, alone at the top of the crease, redirected past Lundqvist.
Miller drew New York even 1:39 later with his seventh of the year. The 22-year old skated around Washington defenseman Matt Niskanen before wiring a shot that beat Holtby to the far side.
It took all of 2:02 for New York to build upon Miller's goal.
Kreider's unassisted goal at 15:44 put New York ahead 2-1. After creating a turnover, Kreider counterattacked and deked Holtby out of position leading the top-six forward's sixth goal of the season.
Before the end of the period, Boyle's power play rocket from the left site extended the lead to 3-1 as Washington defenseman Dmitry Orlov served a hooking penalty.
NOTES: Due to the Pittsburgh-Davidson men's college basketball game at Madison Square Garden earlier in the day, Washington did not hold a morning skate. The Rangers skated at their Westchester, N.Y., training facility. Pittsburgh routed Davidson, 94-69. ... New York scratched LW Viktor Stalberg. G Antti Raanta (head) and D Dan Girard (knee) also missed the game with injuries. ... Washington scratched D Connor Carrick and RW Stanislav Galiev. ... Scouts and executives listed on the Madison Square Garden press box seating list included Mark Messier, who now works for the Edmonton Oilers, St. Louis GM Doug Armstrong and assistant GM Martin Brodeur, Hockey Canada scout and former Flyers coach Craig Berube, and Anaheim assistant coaches Trent Yawney and Paul MacLean.