Vesey, Lundqvist Combine to Down Caps

The last time the Caps defeated Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist in a regular season game at Verizon Center was four days after Barack Obama was elected to his first term as U.S. President.

On Saturday night at Verizon Center, Lundqvist made 26 saves to help his New York Rangers win for the ninth time in their last dozen visits to the District. The victory was Lundqvist's sixth in succession in Washington's building; his last loss here came against Brent Johnson on Nov. 8, 2008.

"We had lots of good looks and Lundqvist came up big when they needed it," says Caps coach Barry Trotz, "and we're sitting here with a loss."

For the fifth time in as many games, the Caps broke the seal on the scoresheet. They did so early, too, going up a goal on the third shift of the night.

New York defenseman Adam Clendening tried to make a pass or a clearing attempt from behind the Rangers' net, but absorbed a hit from Justin Williams just as he released the puck. The hit blunted the pass a bit, and Brooks Orpik was easily able to keep it in the zone at the left point. Orpik lofted a shot netward, and Lars Eller was able to nick it over Lundqvist's left shoulder for a 1-0 Washington lead at 1:33 of the first frame.

The Rangers had probably more offensive zone time than the Capitals would have liked in the first period, but Braden Holtby was rock solid in the Washington nets, turning aside all 13 shots he faced in the first frame, including three shots launched during the four minutes in which New York enjoyed the man advantage.

Washington was able to double its advantage before the first intermission, as its three Russian skaters combined on a pretty rush goal. Dmitry Orlov started the play deep in the Washington end, feeding Evgeny Kuznetsov inside the Washington line. Kuznetsov skated into neutral ice, feeding Alex Ovechkin just before the latter reached the New York line. Ovechkin created some space for himself by faking inside and going back outside to shake defender Marc Staal, then fired a wrist rocket that beat Lundqvist to the far side at 14:49.

For the second straight game, things came unglued for the Capitals in the second period. Their two-goal lead evaporated as they surrendered three goals on just five shots.

Seconds after Zach Sanford missed the net in a bid for his first NHL goal at the New York end of the ice, the Rangers broke out of their end on a rush. Brandon Pirri took a feed from J.T. Miller, entered the zone and fired a shot past Holtby's outstretched glove hand to make it a 2-1 game at 2:21 of the second.

Less than two minutes later, the Caps had a golden chance to restore their multiple-goal advantage when New York's Mika Zibanejad was assessed a double-minor for hi-sticking Caps winger T.J. Oshie. But the Caps managed just one shot on net during those four minutes, an Orlov shot in the final half-minute of the man advantage.

"I think we scored the first two goals and we felt like it was going to be over," laments Ovechkin. "Five-on-four for four minutes, and I think we only had one chance when [Matt Niskanen] shot the puck. After that, we were so casual and we couldn't stay in the zone. Blame it on us - we can't play like that."

Zibanejad had a chance to tie it on a breakaway as he was sprung from the box, but he missed the net wide to the right.

With Niskanen in the box for roughing, the Rangers tied it on a power play of their own at 11:22. Rookie Jimmy Vesey a sublime Rick Nash feed into a yawning cage to make it a 2-2 game.

Exactly three minutes later, Vesey scored again to give the Rangers a 3-2 lead. Mats Zuccarello picked off Karl Alzner's pass up the right side, and the Rangers came right back into the Washington end in transition. Vesey went wide around Alzner, then made a power move to the net where he beat Holtby with a backhander.

"I just forgot that Zuccarello has the longest stick probably in the league," rues Alzner. "I think I'm going to sneak one past him through the middle and he knocks it down. It's a really good play [by Vesey] when you go wide and as soon as the [defenseman] puts his stick out, you go under the stick. [As a defenseman], you either haul him down or you let him go and hope that the goalie makes the save. At that point, it was just fingers crossed that [Holtby] would make the save, but it's obvious why he was sought after. He made some good plays out there."

Lundqvist made a big second period stop on Kuznetsov right after the first Vesey goal, and he denied Ovechkin's back door bid with just over a minute remaining in the second period.

The Caps were better in the third - they generated a few chances - but they weren't able to slip another puck behind Lundqvist. King Henrik made his best stop of the third late in the game with Holtby off for an extra attacker. Lundqvist walled off Ovechkin's bid from just off the left post with about a minute remaining.

Nash bagged an empty-netter with less than 10 seconds on the clock to ice it for the Rangers, New York's fourth empty-net goal of the young season.

"I love the way we won this game," says Lundqvist, "the way we battled back, the way we believe in ourselves and our system and I thought we played a really strong game.

"Being down two after the first, it was tough but I think we all felt like we could do it. The way we've been playing lately we've been creating a lot of good chances, enough chances to score a lot against good teams. I thought our second period was really strong, and the key was really the penalty kill. We had to kill off four minutes and then go up and score a couple there."

Saturday's loss to the Rangers was Washington's first regulation loss in five games this season, and it halted the Capitals' winning streak at three. In hindsight, the Caps' lackluster showing on what proved to be their lone power play chance of the night turned out to be a turning point.

"We had a real good first [period]," says Trotz. "Some of our defensive play wasn't great, but we were skating. In the second, they got the quick goal and they got a little momentum off our own power play.

"On your bench, when you get a four-minute [power play], you want to get something out of it at least. You get right back in the driver's seat if you get one there. They dug in and built a little momentum from that. They found a way to get it tied up with a power-play goal of their own, and then Vesey's [second] goal."
Deja Two - For the second time in as many games, the Capitals followed up a good first period performance with a dismal middle 20 minutes on Saturday night against the New York Rangers at Verizon Center. But unlike Thursday's game in Florida in which the Caps were able to redeem themselves in the third period and skate off with a win, the Caps weren't able to rebound in the final frame against the Blueshirts. The result was a 4-2 loss, Washington's first regulation setback of the season.

For the fifth time in as many games this season, the Caps scored the game's first goal, taking a 1-0 lead at 1:33 on Lars Eller's nifty deflection of Brooks Orpik's left point shot, Eller's first goal as a Capital.

Alex Ovechkin scored later in the first, another addition to the Caps' captain's ongoing highlight reel. After a quick and nifty move to turn Rangers defenseman Marc Staal around, Ovechkin launched a wrist rocket past New York netminder Henrik Lundqvist on the far side.

But that was as good as it would get for the Capitals on this night. Four unanswered New York goals - three of them on just five shots in the second period - and a strong final 40 minutes from Lundqvist were enough to land the Caps in the "L" column for the first time in 2016-17.

"I don't know if it's a common thing yet," says Caps defenseman Karl Alzner when asked about Washington's second period woes. "It's a little bit too small of a sample size. But we were just a little too much 'run and gun' tonight.

"We had opportunities to go on the offense, and we took them and we weren't getting pucks through or we weren't getting that chance at the net and it was turning back on us and we were just getting a little scrambly. We just got caught up a little bit too much tonight in that emotion of going for that goal and trying to step on the gas. And they're a transition team, so it was the wrong team to do it against."

Alzner is right about the sample size, but six of the nine goals Washington has surrendered this season have come in the second period. The Caps are 7-2 to the good in the first period this season, and 4-1 to the good in the third. But they've been outscored by 6-2 in the middle frame of their five games.

Deflections of My Life - Eller's goal was Washington's fourth deflection/redirection goal this season. Daniel Winnik, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Ovechkin have also scored in that fashion.

The recent vintage Caps have had the ability to score the pretty goals and the fancy goals, but they've occasionally lacked for netfront presence and the rebound and deflection goals that can be scored as a result. Thus far this season, they've been better at establishing a presence in that area above the paint.

"I think it's very effective," says Eller. "So many goals are scored within those 15 feet of the net. You go to the net and good things happen sometimes. But it's a strength to be able to score goals in a lot of [different] ways."

Killing With Kindness - Washington has allowed just nine goals in its five games this season, including an empty-netter from New York's Rick Nash in the waning seconds of Saturday's loss to the Rangers.

Four of the Caps' nine goals against have been power-play goals; the Caps have been nicked for a power-play goal against in four of their five games and their 71.4% kill rate ranks 26th in the league.

A couple of those goals against on the power play came on deflections, including one that could have been overturned because of a high stick on opening night in Pittsburgh.

"We've got some new people there," says Caps coach barry Trotz, "but we also have a lot of the same people. It's a mentality. Once you start digging yourself a little bit of a hole, you get worried about it. We just need a little confidence going forward. It's not that we don't have any, but we've just got to get everybody on the same page. We're not quite there yet, but we will be."

Great Eight -Ovechkin scored his 21st career goal against Lundqvist, the most he has scored against any goalie. In his last 11 games against the Rangers, Ovechkin has a dozen goals (and no assists) and he has scored at least one goal in 10 of those last 11 games against New York.

Late Summer Thunder -Aside from Nash's empty-netter, all of New York's offense in Saturday's game came from players signed after the middle of August this past summer.

Jimmy Vesey, the former Nashville third-rounder who spurned the Predators to become an unrestricted free agent after completing his illustrious collegiate career at Harvard, enjoyed his first two-goal game in the NHL on Saturday at Washington's expense.

Vesey supplied the game-tying tally on a New York power play in the second period then added what would prove to be the game-winner shortly thereafter. He signed with New York on August 19, four days after becoming a free agent.

Although he entered this season with 49 career NHL goals in just 166 games in the league, Brandon Pirri found himself without a contract and a team as the summer of 2016 wore on. The 25-year-old Pirri finally signed a one-year deal worth $1.1 million with the Rangers - his fourth NHL team - on August 25, and the Blueshirts have installed him on their fourth line.

Pirri drew a penalty that arguably should have been a penalty shot in the first period of Saturday's game. Early in the second period, Pirri showed off his wicked shot, netting the Rangers' first goal of the game and cutting the Caps' lead to 2-1.

If Pirri had played enough games in the league to qualify for the league's leaders in goals per game, he would rank 27th among all active players in the league, just behind Vancouver's Daniel Sedin and just ahead of Minnesota's Jason Pominville.

Six Straight - Saturday's win over Washington was the sixth in succession for Lundqvist, who has not lost a regular season game in D.C. since Nov. 8, 2008, early in his fourth season in the league. Since then, Lundqvist is 6-0, with a 1.67 GAA, a .937 save pct. and two shutouts at Verizon Center.

Quick Strikes -Vesey's two goals in the second period came exactly three minutes apart. According to Elias Sports Bureau, they were the fastest two goals scored by a Rangers rookie since 1999-00 when Jan Hlavac netted a pair of goals less than three minutes apart on three separate occasions (2:29, 0:50 and 2:27).

Down On The Farm - The AHL Hershey Bears notched their first win of the 2016-17 season in their home opener on Saturday night at Giant Center, downing the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, 5-2.

Paul Carey scored in the first to give Hershey an early lead, getting help from Darren Dietz and Chandler Stephenson. Midway through the second, an Aaron Ness power-play goal extended the Bears' lead to 2-0; Stanislav Galiev and Travis Boyd collecting the assists.

Brad Malone's second of the season made it a 3-0 game at the 2:07 mark of the third period. Chris Bourque and Tyler Lewington assisted on the Malone tally.

Bridgeport broke the goose egg with a Tanner Fritz goal just 23 seconds after Malone scored, but Nathan Walker made it a 4-1 game with his first of the season at 3:57. Colby Williams and Madison Bowey supplied the help on Walker's goal.

Fritz made it 4-2 with his second of the night late in the period, but Bowey bagged an empty-netter in the final minute with help from Bourque. Hershey netminder Joe Cannata made 24 saves to earn his first victory in a Bears sweater.

The Bears host Wilkes-Barre/Scranton at Giant Center on Sunday afternoon at 5 p.m.

Down a level, the ECHL South Carolina Stingrays absorbed a 4-3 overtime loss at the paws of the Greenville Swamp Rabbits on Saturday night at North Charleston Arena. The game was the Stingrays' 2016-17 season opener.

Danny New, John Parker and Joe Devin scored for South Carolina, and both Parker and Devin's goals came while the Stingrays were shorthanded. Parker Milner made 33 saves in a losing effort in the South Carolina nets.

By The Numbers - John Carlson led the Capitals with 24:45 in ice time … Ovechkin led the Caps with six shots on net and seven shot attempts … Orpik led the Caps with six hits and three blocked shots … Jay Beagle won six of seven draws (86%) and Nicklas Backstrom won eight of 13 (62%).