Ovechkin scolded the referees, Panarin scored the goal: Washington was in a difficult situation Panarin’s goal helped the Rangers beat Washington in the Stanley Cup match 04/22/2024, 12:56

New York Rangers – Washington Capitals – 4:1 (1-0 in the series)

At the end of the regular season, the New York team placed first and won the President’s Cup. With this success, Rangers will have home advantage in every stage of the 2024 play-offs they can reach. While they collected 114 points in 82 games in total, Washington entered the play-offs as the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference by collecting 91 points.

Winning the regular season alone doesn’t pay off — the Caps have won three times with Ovechkin (in 2010, 2016 and 2017), but they’ve stumbled in the playoffs each time, failing to advance past the second round.

And the Capitals’ only victory in the Stanley Cup to date came when they lost the President’s Cup race to the Nashville Predators.

The last one to pull off a double-double of sorts by winning both a smooth championship and the playoffs was the Chicago Blackhawks in 2013. According to many experts, the Rangers, who have been building a team to compete for the Stanley Cup for a long time and have been waiting for their moment, can do the same this year. Artemy Panarin, the undisputed superstar of the Blue Shirts, who managed to score 120 points in the regular season, told reporters about the great psychological pressure experienced before the play-offs.

“I feel good, but we have a very important time ahead of us. I need to forget about the regular season and be emotionally ready for the playoffs. I feel the pressure; we have to win the Stanley Cup. It’s not only personal, but also team pressure,” Panarin said lohud.

For Washington, being among the top 16 teams in the NHL is a huge accomplishment in itself. The team, which lost most of its important players throughout the season due to trades and injuries, was only able to find the game in the middle of the race and get on the road to victory and helped Alexander Ovechkin score 31 goals in the match. For Wayne Gretzky’s timeless record and they achieved what they wanted. For the Caps’ coaching staff led by Spencer Carbery, this is the first playoff game in their careers, so the bets on the Washingtonians in this series are extremely small.

“Let’s forget this defeat and move on”

The key to Washington’s success in the decisive phase was goalkeeper Charlie Lindgren; It was his saves that helped propel the team to the coveted eighth spot in the standings, and it was his performance that would determine how long the Capitals last in the playoffs. In the first period of the match against Rangers, everything turned out perfectly for him and his partners; Seven out of seven shots hit the target and the neutralization of three of the opponents’ numerical advantage allowed the capital club to go to the break with zero possessions. “accepted” column.

But literally two minutes into the second period, everything changed: First, the New York forward of the team, Matthew Rempe, opened the scoring, and just 33 seconds later, the Rangers’ advantage was strengthened by Russian forward Artemy Panarin. Jimmy Vesey scored the home team’s third goal a minute and a half later.

3:0 – and it seemed that everything was decided in this game, but Washington responded a minute later – defender Martin Fehervari successfully completed the attack of his team and scored Igor Shesterkin’s goal. In the middle of the match, Ovechkin had an incredible opportunity to score on the power play, but he did not shoot from his trademark “office” and passed the ball to his partner at the far post, where he could not control the ball.

In the third period, the Capitals tried to put pressure on the Rangers’ goal but only managed six shots on goal. The final score of the game was set up by forward Chris Kreider, who capitalized on a one-on-one opportunity less than four minutes before the final siren. 4:1 – The first match remained with the New Yorkers.

After the game, Washington captain Alexander Ovechkin was very brief and calm, urging his teammates to put the past game out of their minds. During the match, the Russian player did not take a single shot on goal, made two shots and finished the game with a benefit indicator of “-1”.

“The first period went well. In the second period, we make a few mistakes and they score goals. But we all know these are play-offs. Everyone needs to play much better, so let’s forget this defeat and move on,” Ovechkin said.

Thus, Rangers took a 1-0 lead in the series. The second match of these teams will take place in New York. The match will be played on the night of April 24. The kickoff is scheduled for 2:00 Moscow time.