Lundqvist ties Joseph for fifth on NHL wins list, Rangers top Capitals

NEW YORK -- Henrik Lundqvist made 30 saves and tied Curtis Joseph for fifth on the NHL wins list, helping the New York Rangers defeat the Washington Capitals 4-1 at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday.

Lundqvist has 454 wins, 30 behind Hall of Famer Ed Belfour, who is in fourth place.
"It's an honor to be in that company," Lundqvist said. "There are so many great goalies, a lot of them have been inspirations to me growing up. It's been taking a little longer here the last two years to get the wins, but just got to continue to battle here. It means a lot to me, it really does. Proud feeling, for sure."
WATCH: [All Capitals vs. Rangers highlights]
Artemi Panarin scored two power-play goals and extended his NHL career-long point streak to 12 games (seven goals, 12 assists).
Kaapo Kakko had an assist on each of Panarin's goals, Pavel Buchnevich had a goal and an assist, and Brett Howden scored for the Rangers (9-8-2), who improved to 4-1-1 at home since Oct. 29.
"I know it was 3-0 at one point, but with that team you know they could score three goals in a hurry, so I think we did a good job managing that," Rangers coach David Quinn said. "I think we did a good job understanding the situation. They get the power-play goal to make it 3-1, and then we come back and make it 4-1. I think that's a good sign. We've all talked about us managing our emotions and managing the ebbs and flows of a hockey game, and I thought we did a really good job of that tonight."

Evgeny Kuznetsov scored a power-play goal, and Braden Holtby made 27 saves for the Capitals (16-4-4), who lost a road game in regulation for the first time in 10 games (8-1-1) since Oct. 12.
The Capitals allowed two power-play goals in a game for the first time this season.
"It ends up being a deciding factor," Washington coach Todd Reirden said. "There were some points where we could stay in that one, and we weren't able to scratch and claw our way back."
Panarin gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 1:14 of the second period, scoring from the left circle off a one-time cross-circle pass from Kakko.
The Capitals had shots from John Carlson and T.J. Oshie go off the crossbar in the first period, and another from Lars Eller in the second.
"Yeah, I got lucky a few times," Lundqvist said. "Some nights you earn that luck, I think. It was great to have that on our side tonight."
Panarin extended the lead to 2-0 from the left circle at 3:57 of the third period. Kakko whiffed on his shot attempt in the slot, and the puck went through the legs of Capitals forward Beck Malenstyn to Panarin, who one-timed it.
Buchnevich scored 23 seconds later, connecting on a give-and-go rush with Filip Chytil for a 3-0 lead.
"The one thing that disturbed me from the game was our shift after the goal against," Reirden said. "We've done a really good job of stopping momentum or not letting things get out of hand when the other team is making a push. Tonight we didn't do that. That's the one thing I take from this game."

Kuznetsov cut it to 3-1 at 7:24 before Howden's goal from all alone in front made it 4-1 at 13:34.
The Rangers killed off Washington's 6-on-4 power play with Holtby pulled for the extra skater beginning at 16:32 to preserve the win.

They said it

"It's tough when you have opportunities at the net and you hit the crossbar, crossbar again, and then they get two power-play goals. … As soon as we get the puck in their zone, we were having some good looks, but it's really tough when you get a couple posts and they get those couple goals." -- Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov
"This was a true team effort. Obviously, [Lundqvist] was really good in net. I thought we defended well, we didn't give up a lot of crazy chances. I thought we did some really good things offensively. Our power play was good and we got a big kill when we needed it. You add all that up, and you've got a good chance to win a hockey game." -- Rangers coach David Quinn

Need to know

The Capitals played without center Nicklas Backstrom for the first time this season. He's day to day with an upper-body injury. … Rangers center Mika Zibanejad missed his 10th straight game with an upper-body injury. Quinn said he skated well away from the team Wednesday, another positive sign in his recovery. … Capitals forward Garnet Hathaway sat out, serving the first game in his three-game suspension for a spitting incident with Anaheim Ducks defenseman Erik Gudbranson on Monday. … Malenstyn had three shots in 10:02 in his NHL debut. … Capitals forward Jakub Vrana played his 200th NHL game. … Carlson has 12 points (one goal, 11 assists) in an eight-game point streak.

What's next

Capitals: Host the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday (12:30 p.m. ET; SN1, SNE, SNO, SNP, NBCSWA, NHL.TV)
Rangers:At the Ottawa Senators on Friday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, TSN5, RDS, MSG, NHL.TV)