Without Ovechkin, Capitals Upset Rangers
T.J. Oshie scores the go-ahead goal in the third period
T.J. Oshie (Caps Outsider)
The Capitals upset the top team in the Metropolitan Division, the New York Rangers, on Saturday, 3-2, in front of a home crowd of 18,573 at Capital One Arena.
Washington was without its face of the franchise, Alex Ovechkin, who missed the game due to a lower-body injury. It was the 57th game of Ovi’s career that he has missed.
Despite this, the team was able to take care of business.
T.J. Oshie scored the go-ahead goal with 11:31 left in the third period, and was named the third star of the game. He passed Dennis Maruk (182) for the 10th-most goals in franchise history.
Charlie Lindgren got the start in net for the Caps and notched 25 saves with a .925 save percentage, making him the first star of the game.
The Rangers struck first in the opening period, thanks to a tally from Adam Fox, but four minutes later, Anthony Mantha scored on a breakaway off a long pass from Connor McMichael to tie it at 1-1.
The lone goal in the second period came from Fox for the second time in the afternoon to put New York up 2-1.
However, Washington went on to score two goals within two minutes in the third.
First, Evgeny Kuznetsov made a backhanded shot attempt towards the net, as Nic Dowd was right in front to tip the puck past Rangers goalie Jonathan Quick, tying the game at 2-2 with 13:24 left in regulation.
This led to Dylan Strome feeding the puck to Oshie in front of the net for the game-winning goal midway through the third.
With the win, Washington improves to 20-14-6 with 46 points on the season, and moves from 7th to 5th place in the Metropolitan Division.
