#CapsRangers Postgame Notebook: Comeback Attack

Just over a minute away from seeing their winning streak halted at four games, the Capitals rallied to tie Wednesday's game with the New York Rangers at 2-2 on Lars Eller's six-on-five goal with 65 seconds remaining in regulation. Just 38 seconds into overtime, Evgeny Kuznetsov beat Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist, delivering Washington's fifth straight win.

Two goals in a span of 103 seconds of playing time delivered two points to the Caps on a night when they were less than two minutes away from getting none. The victory completed a sweep of a home-and-home set with the Rangers; the Caps downed the Blueshirts 4-2 in New York on Monday night.

Washington's win on Wednesday night was also its ninth in its last 10 games, and it extended the Caps' Metropolitan Division lead over the second place Pittsburgh Penguins to seven points with five games remaining for both teams. The Caps need only win any two of their remaining games to clinch a third straight Metro Division title.

The Rangers were mathematically eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs a day earlier, but they turned in a spirited 60-minute performance, and the Caps needed a six-on-five goal and a three-on-three goal late in order to win a game in which they never led.

"They played a lot better than two days ago," says Eller of the Rangers. "They played a hard 60 minutes and I think they gave it everything they had. They made it really hard on us. I think both teams really played a pretty good game - we had to kill a few more [penalties].

"It was not an easy game at all, which you might have thought it could have been. But we're really happy to come out of here with two points, and I think we played actually a lot better in a lot of areas than we did two days ago, even though we didn't score as many. So, a lot of positives.

Both teams' veteran goaltenders - Washington's Braden Holtby and New York's Lundqvist - were returning to the nets for their respective teams after brief injury-related absences, and both were excellent.

"I thought it was a very well-played game," says Caps coach Barry Trotz. "I thought [the Rangers] had a lot of jump in their game, I thought we had a lot of jump in our game. I thought we had two goaltenders that went head-to-head and dueled it out. We had some really good chances , we had to fight back and we showed a lot of character with Lars getting that goal to get it tied up and win it in overtime. So [there were] a lot of good elements."

Make Mine A Double -Although he had no points heading into the penultimate minute of regulation in Wednesday night's game, Kuznetsov turned in his sixth straight game with two or more points. He had three straight multi-point games before missing three games because of an upper body injury, and has bad three straight multi-point games since returning from that absence.

According to Elias Sports Bureau, Kuznetsov's six-game spree with multiple points is the first in the NHL in just over a year, since Edmonton's Leon Draisaitl had a six-game streak from March 14-23, 2017.

Also according to Elias, Kuznetsov's current streak matches the longest in Washington's franchise history. Dennis Maruk had a six-game streak with multiple points in 1981-82, and the feat has since been matched by Mike Gartner (1984-85), Mike Green (2008-09) and Kuznetsov.

Kuznetsov has totaled five goals and 13 points in those last half dozen games, and he has scored a goal in three straight games for the seventh time in his NHL career, matching his career high goal-scoring streak.

Back In The Saddle Again - Holtby has been a workhorse for the previous three seasons, averaging 67 starts a campaign over that span. But because of some second-half struggles and a brief absence from the lineup because of a lower body injury, Holtby started for just the third time in 11 games and the first time in more than a week on Wednesday against New York.

"It felt good," says Holtby of his return. "I felt comfortable, obviously it's something I'm not used to, not playing much. Stamina and such was a little different than I'm used to, but it felt good to go out there and just get to work, and to play in a high intensity game."

Holtby's return went well, as he looked sharp in making 37 saves to earn his third straight victory and his fourth in five starts this month. New York peppered Holtby early, pouring 18 shots on him in the game's first period, with nine of those shots coming on the power play.

"We ran into some penalty problems early, and they were putting a lot of pucks towards Holts," says Trotz. "They were testing him; obviously he has been out for a while. So I think it was probably mandated that they were going to throw a lot of pucks from a lot of areas early on him, and we were able to survive that. I thought he looked real solid."

Dashing Debut -Caps winger Shane Gersich became the fifth Washington rookie to make his NHL debut on Wednesday. The 21-year-old Gersich was the Capitals' fifth-round choice (134th overall) in the 2014 NHL Draft. He played on a line with Eller and Devante Smith-Pelly.

"I actually felt really good," says Gersich. "I'm probably playing on a little bit of adrenaline right now; I've got some fresh legs. It felt good out there, and Lars and Devo did a great job of talking to me and making it easy on me."

Gersich had only three shifts in the first period, but they were all spent in the offensive zone, where he showed the ability to hounds pucks and win some puck skirmishes. By night's end, he logged 8:52 in ice time and managed three shots on net and five shot tries in that span.

"I think he played really well," says Eller. "I think he brought a lot of energy. He was winning battles - he was always trying to go forward or going to the net. He was pretty easy to play with from my standpoint. I think he did great with the opportunity he was given."

Gersich seems to know what to do in the offensive zone. He didn't get pushed off the puck on his first shift, and he executed a couple of pickpocket moves on his second. He also created and had some scoring chances.

"I loved it," says Trotz. "I thought he was dangerous. Every time I put him on the ice he seemed to create something. He was picking guys' pockets, he was getting to those areas, his speed is undeniable, and he's got some good hockey sense. It was a really good game for him.

"We didn't have him on any special teams or on any of the bump-up lines, so his ice time was a little bit limited, but I was really impressed with him. I think for a first game, if he's got better than that I'm really excited for sure."

King Hits 60 - Like Holtby, Lundqvist was playing for the first time after a brief absence because of injury, and also like Holtby, he turned in a vintage performance. Lundqvist made 30 saves in the loss, stopped Kuznetsov on a first-period penalty shot and was named the game's No. 3 star.

Lundqvist made his 60th appearance of the season in Wednesday's game, and he has now had nine seasons of 60 or more appearances during his NHL career. He is the first Rangers goalie to appear in as many as 60 games in nine seasons, and he is just the eighth goaltender in NHL history to appear in 60 or more games in nine or more seasons.

The seven goaltenders who did it before him are: Eddie Belfour, Martin Brodeur, Tony Esposito, Glenn Hall, Curtis Joseph, Roberto Luongo and Patrick Roy.

The Kid's All Right - New York rookie center Lias Andersson sored his first NHL goal in his first NHL game on Monday against the Capitals in Manhattan. Two nights later, the teenaged Andersson notched his first NHL assist against the Caps in Washington, setting up Ryan Spooner's go-ahead goal midway through the third period.

Down On The Farm - The AHL Hershey Bears were also in action on Wednesday night, suffering a 6-4 setback at the hands of the Sound Tigers in Bridgeport.

After falling down 2-0 in the first period, the Bears got on the board at 15:48 of the first when Joe Whitney scored on a Hershey power play with help from Aaron Ness and Travis Boyd. The goal was Whitney's 14th of the season.

Hershey's deficit grew by three goals in the second, and the Bears entered the final period down 5-1.

In the third, Hershey scored three times, and Anthony Peluso had a hand in all three tallies. He scored his fifth goal of the season at 6:13 of the third, making it a 5-2 game with help from Zach Sill and Colby Williams.

After Bridgeport restored its four-goal lead at 6-2, Peluso earned the single assist on Hampus Gustafsson's second goal of the season at 11:22 of the third. In the final minute of regulation, Peluso netted his second goal of the game with assists from Lucas Johansen and Madison Bowey.

Vitek Vanecek started in goal for the Bears, but left after surrendering five goals on 19 shots in the game's first 40 minutes. Adam Carlson came on in relief, and he stopped eight of the nine shots he faced in the third period.

Hershey will be back in action on Friday night when it visits the Comets in Utica.

By The Numbers - Matt Niskanen led the Caps with 25:03 in ice time, and he also led with 6:42 of the 9:43 of total time Washington spent shorthanded … Alex Ovechkin and John Carlson led the Caps with five shots on net each, and Ovechkin led with 13 shot attempts … Andre Burakovsky led the Caps with three hits … Niskanen, Eller and Brooks Orpik paced Washington with three blocked shots each … Kuznetsov win 11 of 16 face-offs (69%) … Fourteen of New York's total of 39 shots on net came on the power play.