Ovechkin's awesome goal can't save Capitals

NEW YORK -- Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin scored his latest highlight-reel goal in a 3-2 loss to the New York Rangers in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Second Round at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.

With the Capitals trailing 3-1 in the third period, Ovechkin took a pass from wing Joel Ward and skated between Rangers defensemen Ryan McDonagh and Dan Girardi, was knocked down, but managed to put a shot from near the right circle over goalie Henrik Lundqvist's right shoulder.

"Sick," Capitals forward Evgeny Kuznetsov said. "I said a couple of bad words in Russian, but I said, 'Sick.'"

The goal, Ovehckin's fourth of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, made it 3-2 with 9:31 remaining. But the Rangers tied the best-of-7 series 1-1, with Game 3 Wednesday in Washington (7:30 p.m. ET; CBC, TVA Sports, NBCSN).

"Wow. Again, unbelievable individual effort," Ward said. "To split the D like that is pretty impressive."

Ovechkin shook it off as being a pretty goal.

"It's just an instinct situation," Ovechkin said. "It was 3-1. I was just trying to do something. It was a good play by Ward. He gave me the puck at full speed and I made a move and just took a shot."

Lundqvist said he knows how good Ovechkin is, but even he was surprised by the play.

"He's one of the best players, there's no question," Lundqvist said. "There's not a lot of other players that can do what he does out there, and it's a challenge for us every game to try and stop him, but to be able to shoot it that hard on your knees, he definitely surprised me a little bit."

Capitals coach Barry Trotz continued to praise his captain.

"That goal that [Ovechkin] scored was a big-time goal," Trotz said, "He's a force. There's no question.

"There's so many good players, and you will get a lot of debate, but you have to consider [Ovechkin]. … When you look at left wingers around the League, I don't know if you can come up with too many better than him, if any."

Follow David Satriano on Twitter: @davidsatriano