Capitals at Rangers
The Washington Capitals try for their fifth straight victory when they visit the New York Rangers on Sunday in a key Metropolitan Division game, and not even a three-goal deficit or a rare off-night from their Vezina Trophy-caliber goaltender can slow them down. Washington trailed New York by five points in the division on the morning of Nov. 24 but has gone 9-1-1 since as part of an 11-1-1 run, while the Rangers went 3-8-2 to fall six points behind the Capitals.
Washington defeated Tampa Bay 5-3 on Friday after Braden Holtby (20-4-1, 1.92 goals-against average, .931 save percentage) allowed three goals on 12 shots before being pulled midway through the game. “It was designed to be a wake-up call to the team,” Capitals coach Barry Trotz told reporters about Holtby, whose win total and GAA lead the NHL. “It wasn’t a slight against Braden. He’s been our MVP this year. I didn’t want to slight him because he has been fantastic. We weren’t playing real passionate in front of him.” New York is coming off 5-2 losses in Minnesota on Thursday and Winnipeg the following night and has yielded 23 goals in its last five games (1-3-1). "We have two more games before the break," Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, whose save percentage of .896 since Nov. 23 is well below his season number (.928), told reporters. "We have to do everything we can to win those two games and go into the break and come back energized."
TV: 7 p.m. ET, NHL Network, TVA, CSN-DC (Washington), MSG (New York)
ABOUT THE CAPITALS (23-6-2): Captain Alex Ovechkin and T.J. Oshie each recorded two goals and two assists Friday, with Oshie scoring twice for the second time in three games. Ovechkin and Oshie are centered by Nicklas Backstrom, who has recorded two goals and eight points in eight games this month. Defenseman John Carlson tops the team in ice time at 24 minutes, 30 seconds per game and shares the club lead in assists (19) with Evgeny Kuznetsov.
ABOUT THE RANGERS (19-11-4): Lundqvist isn't receiving much help from a struggling defense that includes Marc Staal and Dan Girardi, who are each minus-8 over the last 13 games after going plus-10 and plus-13, respectively, over the first 21 contests. New York also needs more production from Rick Nash, who scored six of his 10 goals during a four-game span in November and has two tallies in 11 contests since. Derek Stepan returned Friday and played 18 minutes, 47 seconds after missing 10 games because of broken ribs, but the Rangers have been without Girardi (knee) for three contests and will not get defenseman Kevin Klein back until at least Tuesday, when they host Anaheim.
OVERTIME
1. Ovechkin, who was hurt in practice Saturday but will play according to Trotz, has a team-high 16 goals (10 at even strength) and is nine shy of becoming the 43rd player in NHL history - and first Russian - to record 500.
2. Washington and New York entered Saturday with the second- and fourth-best power plays in the NHL at 25 and 21.7 percent, respectively.
3. The Rangers have won four straight meetings, including a 5-2 decision on Nov. 3 as rookie C Oscar Lindberg scored twice and Lundqvist made 32 saves.