Capitals Bounce Back - Series Tied At 2

Yup. The hard way. That's how we do things in Ranger-town. For the 2nd time in this series and the 4th time in the playoffs – the Rangers lost a 1 game lead and has fallen from the brink of dominance back into the pit.


The Capitals struck back again, rebounding from their traumatic 6 period OT loss with a 3-2 win at home to know the series at 2 games. So much for momentum and the psychological advantage of that game 3, 6 period OT win. We're back in a dogfight. Again.

In the first, Lundqvist made some amazing saves until the 12:43 mark. Krieder suddenly looked like a rookie playing the second week of his NHL career – giving up the puck to Ovechkin in the Ranger zone. The massive Russian launched a 40 footer at Hank that found the net and gave the Caps a 1-0 lead.

But the Rangers fought back. In the second minute of the second period Anisimov got lose in front – got the puck from Stepan – and buried it to tie the game at one.

But at 11:54 Backstrom gave the Caps back their lead. He was left alone in the slot and Hank couldn't come up with the save.

But our Rangers fought back a second time. At 16:43 Gaborik – who ended the 6 period marathon Thursday morning – went to the net – got the puck and used his lightning fast stick to beat Holtby and tie the game – again – at 2 all.

Also in the second period – Ovechkin left his feet to give Girardi a head shot – that hopefully the league will have something to say about. Girardi finished the game and seems okay. Tortorella, predictably, was visibly furious in the post game interview – lasted about 30 seconds storming out.

But – in the third – the Caps went ahead to stay. On the powerplay with four minutes and 17 seconds remaining – Green – with the slapshot – and that was it.

We outhit the Capitals 33-24, but were outshot 26 to 20. Goals and assist for Anisimov. Goal for Gaborik. Assists for Boyle, Girardi and Staal. 5 hits for Callahan. Dubinsky still out with the foot injury. Lundqvist stopped .885 of the shots he faces and Holtby stopped .900. Close – but we were on the short end. We were 0-2 on the powerplay, and 1-2 on the Penalty Kill – and that was your hockey game. The Rangers again get 2 goals – but unlike game three – 2 goals wasn't enough this time.

Still, we took one of two in DC and regained our home ice advantage. Let's see if the Rangers can win game five this time – because we don't want to be down 3-2 like last time. The Caps are not Ottawa.

We missed our chance to go up 3-1 on the Capitals. Of course – we did go up 3-1 in 2009 - and ended up losing anyway. Maybe this way will work.