The New York Rangers, fresh off a win against Colorado, return to action in Washington. Lines are not known as of this writing, but the big questions are whether David Quinn will keep things the same after one of the better wins of the year, or if he’ll mix it up to get some scratches back in the lineup. Here’s Chris Kreider playing What’s in the Box. ICYMI: On the latest episode of What's in the Box, we learned that Chris Kreider is another player that's not a very big fan of snakes. https://t.co/Y0uzeXzoAo — NHL (@NHL) October 17, 2018 Listen to the podcast, fools.<doc-sep>WASHINGTON — Losing hurts, of course, and it should. And the Rangers weren’t thinking about moral victories in the moments after their 4-3 overtime loss to the defending Stanley Cup champion Capitals Wednesday night. But despite Matt Niskanen’s rebound goal with 2:42 left in the overtime to give the Caps the win, the Rangers still managed to take away a point from this loss. Add that point to the two they earned from their shootout win over Colorado on Tuesday at Madison Square Garden, and the Rangers could feel good about what they had accomplished in the span of about 27 hours — taking three out of a possible four points to improve to 2-4-1 on the young season. “Yeah, that’s big, coming away with a point — three out of four,’’ said forward Chris Kreider, whose power-play goal midway through the third period forced the overtime. He leads the team with four goals. “Obviously, we’d like to have four out of four, but three out of four’s pretty good, considering the travel and the strength of the opponents that we played. So, it’s something we can hang our hat on. But I think we can get to the point where we’re getting all four points.’’ Another time, perhaps. This time, they were hurt by two power-play goals from Alexander Ovechkin, who scored both in the second period, on virtually identical one-time shots from the top of the left wing circle. It was the first time, for Rangers rookie coach David Quinn, that he’d witnessed Ovechkin doing that to a team he coached, and he didn’t like it one bit. “Sickening,’’ he said when asked what he thought of Ovechkin at work in his “office.’’ He’s lucky, though, Ovechkin had one more shot that beat goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, but it rang off the crossbar inside the final two minutes of regulation. Had that gone in, the Rangers wouldn’t have gotten any points. Lundqvist made 34 saves. Quinn kept his streak alive of dressing a different lineup every game. He’s done so each game this season, though he thought a long time Wednesday about staying with the same group that had played so well and won on Tuesday. Ultimately, though, Quinn decided to re-insert Pavel Buchnevich for Cody McLeod, which was his only change. Subscribe to Newsday’s sports newsletter Receive stories, photos and videos about your favorite New York teams plus national sports news and events. By clicking Sign up, you agree to our privacy policy. Quinn also chose to stay with Henrik Lundqvist in goal for the second straight night, even after the goalie had played overtime and gone to a shootout Tuesday. “He and I talked this summer about situations like this and we talked, between myself, Ben [Allaire, the goalie coach] and Hank, and we feel like, with three days off coming up, this is a good time to go back-to-back,’’ Quinn said. The Rangers don’t play again until Sunday night, when they host the Calgary Flames. Mika Zibanejad gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead when he banged in the rebound of a shot by Kreider at 6:09 of the first period. Washington tied it at 14:05 of the period on a goal by John Carlson, who beat Lundqvist through a screen for his third goal of the season. Ovechkin’s first goal came at 3:32 of the second period, with Brett Howden in the box for tripping. The Rangers tied it when Jimmy Vesey scored a power-play goal at 12:42, but Ovechkin’s second goal made it 3-2 at 17:01. Rangers defenseman Neal Pionk assisted on all three goals, tying a career-high.<doc-sep>Red vs. Blue. The story of our nation. The story of our primary colors. And tonight, the story of Capitals vs. Rangers. Here’s Wednesday night’s Plus/Minus: Plus: The Captain Manimal Himself Alex Ovechkin scored two (2) goals, and continues to be an ephemeral force of light. Minus: The Caps took a lot of penalties in this contest, and New York made them pay, cashing in twice on the man-advantage. And now, this... I asked OT hero Matt Niskanen what he was thinking as he fired at the yawning goal mouth. "Don't screw it up." #CapsRangers pic.twitter.com/HbL7tdWv2f — Jason Rogers (@HeyJayJRogers) October 18, 2018 Ten more notes on the game: 1. After losing back-to-back contests to the New Jersey Devils (6-0) on Thursday and the Toronto Maple Leafs (4-2) on Saturday, would the boys in red bounce back on Wednesday night at Capital One Arena against hated, azure-shirted division foes the New York Rangers? 2. Back in the lineup tonight for the Caps was Australian wunderwallaby Nathan Walker, slotting back into the fourth line left wing role in place of Dmitrij Jaskin, newly-arrived winger from St. Louis and, for tonight, a healthy scratch. 3. New York came out swinging first in this contest. Neal Pionk went streaking down the wing and found a crashing Mika Zibanejad in the slot who double-tapped, stuffing home his own rebound off of Braden Holtby’s pads to make this one 1-0 Rangers six minutes into the game. 4. Just minutes later, Capitals defenseman Christian Djoos did everything he possibly, humanly could to keep the score that close, making a diving save at the goal line to tell the puck, “You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here” and keep it at 1-0. 5. With six minutes remaining in the first frame, Captain America John Carlson decided to let freedom ring from above the right circle, firing home a cruise missile to tie this one at 1-1 after twenty minutes. Carlson told the media after the game, “I think we’re getting to the areas we like to get to. It seems like we’ve played against all good goaltenders [this year], but we expect more from ourselves, and at 5-on-5 we know we need to pick that part of game up. At the end of the day, I like to see us get chances versus not.” 6. The Capitals jumped out faster in the second frame. With Washington on the power play after New York’s Brett Howden committed a no-no boo-boo, Alex Ovechkin rang the bell from just above his normal workspace, snapping home a bullet from above the circle to make it 2-1 Caps. 7. But later in the same frame, this time with Washington on the penalty kill with Dmitry Orlov in the box for holding, New York’s Jimmy Vesey collected a serendipitous deflection in front of Holtby, tapping it in to knot it 2-2 after two periods. 8. The Capitals came out at a similar clip in the third. This time with Jesper “Not So” Fast in the penalty box for the Blueshirts, the Captain Alex Ovechkin blasted his second howitzer of the evening from his circular cubicle, making it 3-2 Caps. “Tonight we had very good looks. Obviously everybody knows Hank’s a tough goalie, you know, ‘The King,’ he’s gonna save it,” Ovechkin told the media in the locker room after the game. “When we play like that, it’s fun to play like that to be honest with you.” I asked Ovechkin how badly he wanted a third goal after scoring a second. He told me, with a smile, “If I get it it would be nice, but, you know....next time.” He added, I assume with his tongue firmly planted in his cheek, “It’s all about luck.” 9. BUT THE THEATRICS WEREN’T DONE! This time, this with Nathan Walker in the box, New York’s Chris Kreider redirected a BB down and past Holtby to tie this one up AGAIN late in the game at 3-3! 10. With that, the fans at Capital One Arena were treated to some free hockey, courtesy of OVERTIME! And in the extra stanza, Matt Niskanen followed up a Kuznetsovian effort by slinging the rubber disc into the gaping maw of the net and past a sprawling Henrik Lundqvist. I asked Frisky Nisky what he was thinking as he saw that wide open net staring him down with a chance to send his team home winners. He told me, quite simply, “Don’t screw it up.” Next up is the Florida Panthers here in Washington on Friday.<doc-sep>What Pionk has done to create goals tonight is why the Rangers have to give him a chance to see if he can become a more consistent player shift-by-shift. It's not good enough right now, but maybe he can get there eventually.<doc-sep>
Just 24 hours after topping the Colorado Avalanche in the shootout, the New York Rangers looked to put together a winning streak against the Washington Capitals. While they were able to hang with the Capitals for most of the game, the Capitals came away with the final goal in overtime. Here is the goal breakdown from tonight’s contest. 1-0 Rangers Mika Zibanejad (2) - Assists: Chris Kreider (2) & Neal Pionk (1) This was the first of many great plays by Neal Pionk in this game, as he rushed up the ice to create an odd-man rush across the blue line. Pionk was able to find Mika Zibanejad open in the high slot, and despite being denied the first time, Mika put home his own rebound to make it a 1-0 game. 1-1 Tie John Carlson (3) - Assists: Nicklas Backstrom (7) This was pretty much an identical goal from the Colorado game, minus the deflection in front. John Carlson’s point shot somehow found its way through a triple layered screen and beat Henrik Lundqvist clean over the shoulder. Nothing that could really be done on Lundqvist’s part and the Rangers found themselves tied. 2-1 Capitals Alex Ovechkin (5) - Assists: John Carlson (5) & Brett Connolly (4) This goal really doesn’t even need much a breakdown because it’s no surprise where Ovechkin wound up scoring from. Henrik Lundqvist appeared to relax as the puck went across the ice because it didn’t seem like Ovechkin was in a prime shooting position. However, Ovi tossed a quick shot that fooled Hank and the Capitals took their first lead of the night. 2-2 Tie Jimmy Vesey (3) - Assists: Neal Pionk (2) & Brett Howden (2) After handfuls of scoring opportunities over the last couple of games, Jimmy Vesey finally buried a golden chance in front of the net. The Rangers caught a bit of a fortunate bounce on Neal Pionk’s point shot, and Vesey tapped the loose puck around Braden Holtby. 3-2 Capitals Alex Ovechkin (6) - Assists: John Carlson (6) & Nicklas Backstrom (8) Almost identical to Ovechkin’s first goal, he was planted right in his office and absolutely wired a slap shot home on a pass from Backstrom. The goal came at the worst possible time too, and put the Rangers down by a goal heading into the third period. 3-3 Tie Chris Kreider (4) - Assists: Neal Pionk (3) & Mika Zibanejad (2) Even though it appeared as if the Capitals late second period goal was back breaking, the Rangers responded right back halfway through the third. Neal Pionk picked up his third assist of the night on a perfectly placed wrist shot and Chris Kreider deflected home the shot to make it a 3-3 game. 4-3 Capitals (OT) Matt Niskanen (1) - Assists: Evengy Kuznetsov (6) & T.J. Oshie (3) Both teams traded chances at either end of the rink, but it was the Capitals who were able to capitalize on their opportunity. Henrik Lundqvist made a great initial glove save on Kuznetsov, but the rebound dropped right in the crease and Niskanen tapped it home for the game winner. Following tonight’s loss, the Rangers will be out of game action until Saturday evening when they take on the Calgary Flames at Madison Square Garden.