“Kapital”, which made a big move in December, delighted its fans in its first game after the New Year. Already in the first period, Caps forced two Rangers players to be sent off in a row and played a three-on-five power play for a time, which quickly resulted in a goal.
Russian striker Yevgeny Kuznetsov played the most important role in this: he made a powerful shot from the left rim of the match – the goalkeeper of the “guards” Igor Shesterkin barely recovered the puck, after which Markus Johansson pushed the bullet into the goal. goal from the nose (1: 0).
So, in the last three games, Kuznetsov has scored four points – one goal and three assists.
This statistic would have been even more impressive if Anthony Manta had translated the one-on-one that the Russians had given him. Standing with his back to the goal and not looking at his partner, Kuznetsov threw the puck nicely between the opponent’s legs, leaving the entire Rangers defense out in the cold.
After that, Manta jumped on a date with Shesterkin, but was unable to lift the puck from his shield.
However, even such offensive misfires did not affect the mood of “Washington”. At the end of the second period, the Capitals scored two goals in two minutes, effectively burying the New Yorkers’ comeback hopes.
In the 57th minute, Conor Shiri sent the puck to the empty nets and ended the match.
At the same time, Rangers’ Russian goalkeeper Igor Shesterkin can’t be said to look bad either. On the contrary, he was the only bright spot in the Blueshirts’ game, whose offense brought nothing on their home ground in 60 minutes and failed miserably in five power play attempts.
We’ve already seen Shesterkin’s rescue one-on-one after the release of Manta. Also, the Russian did not allow Johansson to double: the Swede brought the puck from half a meter into an empty corner, but Shesterkin managed to stretch out his hand and shot the bullet to the side with a glove.
The Rangers goalie struggled so much that even the post was on his side. So, 23-year-old “Washington” defender Alexander Alekseev in the second minute of the match came close to his first goal in the NHL, but hit the crossbar from a few meters.
Bright impressions were given to the audience by the more experienced defender of “Washington” Dmitry Orlov. The 31-year-old hockey player literally grabbed Vitaly Kravtsov, a young Rangers striker, by the neck and threw him onto the ice. For this reception from MMA, Orlov didn’t even get a two-minute suspension. Fortunately Kravtsov was not seriously injured.
Who was Alexander Ovechkin in the last match surpassed the success of the great Gordie Howe and became the sole follower of Wayne Gretzky in the race for the best sniper in the NHL, in this match he simply rested on the ice. And this is not surprising – after that wild celebrations. Great Eight fired only one shot at the target and made three powerful moves.
However, on December 30, Washington will play the next game at home against Ottawa and great successes are already expected from the captain.
Artemi Panarin showed more activity and fired four shots at the target, but this did not help the Rangers to fight.
After this win, “Washington” with 44 points in 37 games remained in fifth place in the Eastern Conference, while the “Blue Shirts” remained in seventh place with 43 points in 36 games.