Even before the start of Friday night's regular season finale between the Caps and the Rangers at Madison Square Garden, the game had the feel of being anticlimactic. Both teams had secured their berths in the postseason, neither team had to have the two points that were at stake, and the Caps rested center Nicklas Backstrom, as they did earlier in the month in the second of back-to-backs.
Both teams brought three-game losing runs into Friday's game, but the chief goal on both sides was to get out of the game without adding any players to their list of injured and ailing. That mission appears to have been accomplished on both sides.
"Tonight I thought we played a good game; it didn't go our way," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "A couple of tough bounces out there. It would have been nice to end with some wins, but the season's over and we're moving on and getting ready for Florida."
Following a scoreless first frame, New York started the scoring when Filip Chytil scored at 3:26 of the second. Chytil took a half-wall feed from Kaapo Kakko and put a shot over the right pad of Ilya Samsonov to give the Rangers the lead.
Less than a minute later, the Caps answered back.
Rangers defenseman Patrick Nemeth blocked Trevor van Riemsdyk's shot from center point, but the puck bounced out to partner Justin Schultz, who went bar down to tie the game at 1-1, just 35 seconds after Chytil's opening salvo. Schultz scored on opening night of the season against the Rangers at home, and he netted his fourth of the season against the Blueshirts in New York in Friday's finale.
Washington's power play has scuffled of late, but the extra-man unit came through with the go-ahead goal soon after Schultz's strike.
After taking a feed from Evgeny Kuznetsov along the right half-wall, John Carlson crept closer to the cage before winding up and cranking a blast past Rangers netminder Alexandar Georgiev to give the Caps a 2-1 lead at 5:13 of the second. Carlson's goal was Washington's first power-play goal in six games. Playing in his 900th career NHL game, Caps winger T.J. Oshie picked up the secondary helper on the tally.
Late in the frame, New York pulled even on a 2-on-1, short ice rush. When Carlson whiffed on a bid to pound the puck into New York ice, Alexis Lafreniere and Ryan Strome tore into Washington ice, and the latter fed the former for the finish and a 2-2 tie game at 15:44 of the second.
Rangers forward Dryden Hunt put his team on top for good at 6:42 of the third, showing some silky mitts down low as he out a nifty move on from in tight to tuck the puck behind Samsonov at the right post.
Washington had a late power play in the third, and it pulled Samsonov to get a 6-on-4 advantage in skaters, but it was to no avail. The Caps fell for the fourth straight game (0-3-1), matching their longest skid of the season. But this game was less about the results than just getting the contest into the books, and finally putting a coda on what was a long 82-game season that was replete with fits and starts.
Now, both teams can get to what really matters, the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
"I'm confident," says Caps center Lars Eller, "because I know how good we can be when we're on our game. And I think the last three games we just haven't been emotionally invested in the game; like we're there, but we're not really there. The two Islanders games were almost embarrassing a little bit.
"Today was a little bit better, but I don't recognize us out there. So now we reset, and we have some games that really matter. And I know what we're capable of doing, so that gives me confidence."
