Christensen talks about goal; referee breaks leg

NEW YORK -- It's a shot few players can make, and Erik Christensen made it.

He held the puck near the goal-line in the right-wing corner, unharrassed by Capitals defenders. Realizing he had an opening to shoot, he took it and fired a perfect wrist shot through the smallest of openings over the shoulder of Caps goaltender Michal Neuvirth to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead early in the second period.

"I just picked my head up quick and tried to surprise him," Christensen said. "It was a sharp angle and (Derek Stepan was right in front and said he heard it whizzing by his head. I wanted to put something on the net and found no one was challenging me, so I figure any shot's a good shot. I look over and he's kind of going down low, maybe expecting I'm going to throw it across the street. In the end I tried to whip it at him and fortunately it hit the spot."

On a team that doesn't have many skilled offensive players, Christensen is one of them. Coach John Tortorella has said Christensen is capable of scoring goals like that, and on Sunday he proved him right.

"I think he knows I'm capable of scoring that goal," Christensen said. "He'd like to see it more often. Whether I'm playing a lot or playing a little, I'll always be ready. As of late, 5-on-5 ice time has dropped. So I have to make sure when I'm on that power play, I make the most of it. It keeps me on the power play."

Christensen had 9:03 of ice time Sunday, 4:30 of which came on the power play. Christensen averaged 12:45 of ice time during the regular season, 2:07 of which came on the power play.

Referee leaves with injury: It was a day to forget for the referees at Madison Square Garden, and it had nothing to do with calls on the ice.

During the first period, referee Tim Peel was hit with a slap shot. He was able to stay in the game, but fellow referee Chris Rooney wasn't so lucky. He suffered a broken ankle after tripping over the Washington Capitals net during the second period and had to leave the game.

He was tended to by the Rangers training staff, but eventually limped to the dressing room. Players were allowed to leave their benches and stretch their legs during the 10-minute delay while standby official Frederick L'Ecuyer limbered up and took over for Rooney.

L'Ecuyer got through the rest of the game unharmed.

Follow Dave Lozo on Twitter: @DaveLozo