It all happened in less than 30 seconds. The Rangers were on the verge of tying the game and then instantly found themselves down 2-0.
With under three minutes to go in the first period of the Capitals’ 3-2 Game 2 win last night, Rangers rookie Chris Kreider streaked down the ice on a breakaway and was stopped by Braden Holtby.
“We definitely had several chances to tie it up,” Kreider said. “It was a pretty back-and-forth game.”
That was exemplified when the Capitals immediately took it back down the ice, the puck ending up behind Henrik Lundqvist’s net — but just out of the trapezoid differentiating where he can and cannot touch it.
“The puck just died so I couldn’t play it,” Lundqvist said. “I was on the line so I just poked it. It was going wide after that.
“It was a misread by me. I thought the puck would come faster than it did.”
Jason Chimera took advantage, almost colliding with Lundqvist and chipping the puck the front of the net. There, as Lundqvist dove and hit Anton Stralman in the face with his stick, the puck came back to Chimera near the right post, where he slapped at it again, getting it go in off Ryan McDonagh’s skate and giving the Caps a 2-0 lead.
* Brian Boyle was back in the Rangers lineup after missing the past three games as a result of a concussion sustained on a Chris Neil hit in Game 5 of the Rangers’ series against Ottawa.
While out, the Rangers put away the Senators in seven games and took Game 1 of their series against the Capitals.
“Well, they’re 3-0 since I’ve been out, so it’s not that difficult,” Boyle joked before the game.
Last night, he played a total of 15:20, with 1:18 coming shorthanded. He lost the defensive-zone faceoff to Niklas Backstrom while on the final penalty-kill in the third period that resulted in Alex Ovechkin’s game-winning goal.
* There was no update on Brandon Dubinsky, who didn’t play last night and hasn’t played since he seemed to injure his left leg in Game 7 of the first round.
* John Tortorella was names a finalist for the Jack Adams Award, given to the league’s top coach as voted on by the NHL Broadcasters Association. He joined the Blues’ Ken Hitchcock and the Senators’ Paul MacLean as finalists.
* In the first period, Rangers defenseman Stu Bickel made a bad turnover at the blueline resulting in the Capitals’ first goal, scored by Mike Knuble. After that, he got one shift the rest of the game, playing a total of 3:07.