Lindgren makes 35 saves in season debut, Capitals shut out Rangers

NEW YORK -- Charlie Lindgren made 35 saves for a shutout in his season debut, lifting the Washington Capitals to a 1-0 win against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.

It was Lindgren's 10th shutout in the NHL and second in five career games against the Rangers.

"There's still a little history here with my brother, that's part of it," said Lindgren, whose brother Ryan, a defenseman for the Seattle Kraken, played for the Rangers from 2019-25. "There's been some good moments against the Rangers and some tough moments. Go back to the playoffs and them sweeping us (in 2024). Through my brother I end up knowing a lot of those guys, so it adds a little bit of extra motivation."

Anthony Beauvillier scored the lone goal in the second period for the Capitals (2-1-0). Lindgren locked it down with 13 saves in the first, 13 more in the second and nine in the third.

Washington won back-to-back games in the New York area, also defeating the New York Islanders 4-2 at UBS Arena on Saturday, after losing its season opener at home, 3-1, against the Boston Bruins on Wednesday.

"I think our game is starting to round into form," Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said. "First game was OK. Second game better. Third game, today, we give up a little more than we did yesterday. Probably you would say we played better overall yesterday but sometimes you got to find ways to win. You need a great performance from your goaltender."

Jonathan Quick made 20 saves in his season debut for the Rangers (2-2-0), who were shut out at home for the second time in as many games this season, also losing 3-0 to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday.

The Rangers scored a combined 10 goals in road wins against the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday and Penguins on Saturday.

"We talked after the first game of the year about how you lose, and that was unacceptable," Rangers forward J.T. Miller said. "I think we can hang our hat with how we worked today. We played a lot of offense. It felt like we outplayed them for the majority of the game. We can sleep better tonight knowing we played a much better game."

Beauvillier gave Washington a 1-0 lead at 13:47 of the second period by redirecting Alex Ovechkin's pass over Quick's blocker and into the net.

Ovechkin got the puck along the wall above the left face-off circle. He sent what looked like a shot-pass wide left of the net to Beauvillier, who went behind the cage and redirected the puck from below the circle.

"I'm just trying to get lost there, trying to get my stick open and just trying to read off the defender and where 'O' is at, see if he can find my stick or if not he can shoot it and I'm around the net," Beauvillier said. "He made a great play. Great read by him."

Lindgren made his best save of the night nearly nine minutes before Beauvillier scored. He dove across the crease to rob Mika Zibanejad with a glove save on a one-timer from the left circle off a 2-on-1 pass from Artemi Panarin at 4:53 of the second.

"Two really good hockey players coming down on a 2-on-1, it's not easy," Lindgren said. "Panarin made a nice play, a nice pass. Zibanejad got a lot on it. I felt I got a nice piece of it with my glove. I felt like just for a second I saw a little flash like going into the net. I don't know what it was. But then I looked down at my glove and it was in my glove, so pretty happy about that."

Said Zibanejad: "I'm confident I can say I score eight out of 10, or nine out of 10 on that. He makes that save. It was a good save."

Lindgren also stopped Zibanejad's one-timer from the slot during a Rangers' power play at 16:05 of the second. The puck hit off the goalie and the right post before the Capitals cleared it out of harm's way.

"It hit off my oblique and hit off the post," Lindgren said. "Thankfully it stayed out again."

That was the second of four saves Lindgren made on that penalty kill. The Capitals went back on the kill 24 seconds later and held the Rangers without a shot on goal to protect the one-goal lead going into the third period.

Washington was just 2-for-5 on the PK in its first two games.

"That was huge," Carbery said. "Hopefully that gives our group a little bit of confidence there because it was a big moment in the game and to get out of that without giving one up was important."

In the third, Lindgren denied Panarin on a deflected shot off the rush, staying with the puck as it popped up off defenseman John Carlson and went on goal at 14:16. He was square to Will Cuylle's shot from the right circle with the Rangers skating 6-on-5 with 1:18 remaining.

"He was our best player," Beauvillier said. "If he wasn't there, I don't think we would have walked out of here with two points."

NOTES: Capitals forward Pierre-Luc Dubois didn't play the final 6:44 of the third period. Carbery said he left the game and was being evaluated. … Washington defenseman Declan Chisholm had an assist in his 100th NHL game. It was his first game of the season. … Lindgren improved to 4-1-0 with two shutouts and a .957 save percentage in five regular-season games against the Rangers. … New York placed defenseman Carson Soucy (upper body) on injured reserve before the game. Defenseman Matthew Robertson had one shot on goal in 18:08 of ice time in his season debut.