POSTGAME NOTEBOOK:Rangers 4, Caps 1

Flat Five - Seeking to extend a modest two-game winning streak and a strong stretch of recent play on Saturday afternoon against the New York Rangers, the Capitals came out flat, stayed flat and ultimately fell flat, 4-1 to the Blueshirts at Capital One Arena.

Only twice in 16 games this season have the Capitals gone through the entirety of a 60-minute hockey game without holding a lead at any point, and both of those games came against the Rangers. On Feb. 4 in Manhattan, the Caps fell down 1-0 in the second minute of the game and spent the remainder of the contest chasing the puck, the Rangers and the scoreboard in a 4-2 loss.
"They're a tenacious team," says Caps defenseman John Carlson of the Rangers. "They come at you hard and both games kind of seemed the same way; whether we didn't have it or they were playing really good, I think if we looked more toward what our execution was, we shot ourselves in the foot way too much to get ourselves going, especially early on. And throughout the game I didn't like our response."
Washington never really established any sort of a foundation for itself in Saturday's game and was never able to get to its identity. The Caps seemed to be stuck in neutral for most of the afternoon, falling to 0-3-2 in matinee games this season and 5-7-3 in their last 15 regular season matinee matches, dating back to the beginning of last season.
"They came in and I think we were a little sleepy," says Caps center Nic Dowd. "[Goaltender] Vitek [Vanecek] played well. And I can only speak for myself and for my line, but myself as individual, I found myself trying to swing and re-attack a lot in the neutral zone, so my toes were facing the wrong way. And then when the puck did go north, I was facing south and where the puck is going back south then I'm facing north.
"I think that speaks to all five guys on the ice we've got to figure out a way to have the [defensemen] have better timing to get the puck off, the centermen more available, and the wingers available. Then we can get pucks skating north, as opposed to our [defensemen] are trying to make plays, and maybe we only have one forechecker, or our [defensemen] are getting stalled out, and everyone is having to stop so that when they dump it in, there's no forecheckers. I think I think that was the case for tonight."
Coming off consecutive strong efforts at Pittsburgh and against Buffalo, respectively, the Caps took a step backwards on Saturday.
"Probably from the beginning it seemed like we turned the puck over - myself included - a lot," says Carlson. "Whether we were making the wrong plays or whether we were trying to make the right plays, we just didn't execute well enough. And that just seemed like what was happening with us all night."
On The Board - Caps defenseman Dmitry Orlov scored Washington's only goal of Saturday's game, finding the back of the net with 38.2 seconds left in the middle period to cut into what had been a 3-0 New York lead. The goal represented Orlov's first goal and first point of the season.
Down On The Farm - The AHL Hershey Bears were also in action on Saturday afternoon, hosting the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at Giant Center. The Bears came out on top 3-1, extending their season-opening points streak to five straight games (3-0-2-0).
Connor McMichael recorded the first hat trick of his pro career to account for all of the Hershey scoring on the afternoon, and Zach Fucale stopped 34 of 35 shots to claim his first AHL victory since Jan. 24, 2019 when he defeated Cleveland as a member of the Chicago Wolves.
Some two minutes after the Bears fell down 1-0 on an early power-play goal from the Baby Pens, McMichael scored his first goal of the game and second of the season, striking on a Hershey power play at 8:39 of the first with help from Matt Moulson and Garrett Pilon.
At 1:19 of the second, McMichael executed a swipe and snipe play, forcing a turnover at the defensive blueline and then barreling on a breakaway and scoring to give the Bears a 2-1 lead. With 70 seconds remaining in the game, McMichael removed any lingering drama from the outcome, scoring into an empty net to seal the victory and the hat trick.
The Bears will be back in action on Wednesday night when they visit the Baby Pens in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
By The Numbers - Carlson led the Caps with 25:16 in ice time … Jakub Vrana led the Capitals with five shots on net; he and Carlson each had six shot attempts to lead the team … Brenden Dillon's four hits led Washington … Orlov and Carlson each blocked a pair of shots on the afternoon to lead the Caps … Lars Eller won eight of 11 face-offs (73 percent).