What’s the rush, Eastern Conference favourites?
The visiting New York Rangers became the third team on that side of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs draw to take a 3-0 stranglehold on a series, downing the Washington Capitals 3-1 in Game 3 of their first-round matchup on Friday.
The Blueshirts now join the Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes as higher-seeded teams in a Round 1 set who’ve raced out to a 3-0 series advantage.
The brooms will be out in D.C. on Sunday, for the brave Rangers fans who make their way south in the hopes of witnessing a sweep.
Before we get there, though, here’s what stood out from Game 3.
Rempe further depletes Capitals ‘D’
Washington has been forced to play all three games of this series without defencemen Rasmus Sandin and Nick Jensen. On Friday night, they took another blow when Blueshirts rookie wrecking ball Matt Rempe walloped Trevor van Riemsdyk with a first-period hit that earned the former a two-minute minor penalty for interference.
The Washington D-man went right to the bench and did not return as the team ruled him out with an upper-body injury.
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You can likely guess how the hit was received by the Capitals and rugged Tom Wilson invited Rempe to drop the gloves in the second, only to have his offer rebuffed by the six-foot-seven winger.
Rempe — who scored in Game 1 — only played 5:16 in Game 3, but he was certainly the centre of attention on a few occasions.
Ovi still MIA, Caps power play falls flat
Once again, Alex Ovechkin was unable to make an impact against the Rangers. Ovi had just a single shot through the first two contests and was largely minimalized by the New York defenders in Game 3, too.
It seemed like all of the Caps’ best chances came from guys not wearing No. 8.
Of course, Ovi being off makes it that much harder for Washington to get the power play firing and, indeed, the Caps went a demoralizing 0-for-6 with the man advantage versus the Blueshirts.
Even worse, the Caps surrendered what turned out to be the game-winning goal by Barclay Goodrow while on the power play. The first-period shortie was the second straight game the Rangers have netted a shorthanded marker against Washington.
Shesterkin shines
The Rangers were all over the Capitals early on and Washington goalie Charlie Lindgren had to be sharp to keep it a goal-less game. Then, Caps defenceman John Carlson took a pass just inside the Rangers blueline and floated a harmless-looking shot on net that New York stopper Igor Shesterkin just straight whiffed on.
1-0 home side.
The Rangers were able to take the sting out of that score by netting the equalizer just 34 seconds later and maybe that helped their goalie shake his miscue because Shesterkin was marvelous the rest of the way.
He made 27 saves in total and a number of them thwarted top-notch Caps chances. Midway through the second, Max Pacioretty was left all alone on the lip of the crease and could not one-time a puck past Shesterkin’s lightning-quick right pad. A little later, an egregious turnover by New York’s Alexander Wennberg basically teed up Washington winger Hendrix Lapierre right in front of Shesterkin, but the Russian again closed the door.
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Early in the third — with the Caps on a power play they desperately need to convert on to cut the Rangers’ two-goal lead in half — Tom Wilson had a couple good looks that Shesterkin shut down.
After closing with a strong couple months to the season, Shesterkin appears to be at his best early in these playoffs.
Mika makes plays
As noted, the Rangers were able to suck the air out of the building by answering the Caps’ game-opening strike just over half-a-minute later. On that goal, Mike Zibanejad took the puck at the top of the circle, drifted out toward the blue line, then wired a shot toward the goal at the perfect height for linemate Chris Kreider — who was parked right in Lindgren’s kitchen — to tip home.
(By the way, the goal gave Kreider 67 career playoff points, tying him for third on the Rangers all-time list with Rod Gilbert).
In the second frame, with Rangers up a man and a goal, Zibanejad played give-and-go with Vincent Trocheck, hitting the latter with a crisp feed as Trocheck broke to the net. That tally gave New York a little breathing room and wound up being the final score of the contest.
The apples from New York’s top centre went a long way toward putting the Rangers within one win of Rd. 2.
