The Capitals rallied in the third period for a 3-2 win over the Rangers, putting them within one point of a Wild Card spot.
WASHINGTON — The Washington Capitals didn't get good news before puck drop on Saturday, as they realized captain Alex Ovechkin would be out of the lineup against the New York Rangers as he deals with a lower-body injury. However, they didn't let that news hurt them; instead, they used it to wake up and battle harder.
Ultimately, the Capitals were able to rally and stick with their game en route to a 3-2 win over the Rangers for a big two points that move them within one point of a Wild Card spot.
"Yeah, I think everybody's got no excuses. We all gotta pick up the slack somewhere," John Carlson said after the victory. "And I think sometimes that can galvanize a group a little bit just to fight for each other even that much more."
Anthony Mantha scored for Washington in the first, while Nic Dowd and T.J. Oshie struck in the second to complete a comeback from a 2-1 deficit and hand the Rangers their fourth straight loss.
Oshie's game-winner was on a tap-in from Dylan Strome, who also had a team-leading four blocks in the victory.
"I just went to the back door and sat there," Oshie, who led the Capitals with four shots on Saturday, said. "The whole play was developed from our end and then up the ice, and Stromer made everything happen. I was just sitting there."
On the other side of the ice, the Capitals got a strong defensive performance, with several players sacrificing the body to block shots while the blue line did a good job of keeping New York to the outside. Charlie Lindgren was also strong in his first game back from injury, stopping 25 of 27 shots (.926 save percentage).
"It did feel like quite a while trying to get my feet under me since really before Christmas, and I got hurt five minutes into that Islanders game, so I don't know if that really counts," Lindgren said. "But yeah, I think I felt like I really started settling in kind of towards the end of the first period, second period, third period felt good the rest of the game. So felt good getting back out there with the boys.
"You look at their team; it's a very skilled hockey team, and they try to beat you laterally, try to make that extra pass," Lindgren said. "So I thought we did a really good job just making sure our guys know who they have and not losing coverage and that's what you gotta do against a team like that."
Washington's performance was similar to a lot of the games the group strung together earlier in the season when the team simply came together and somehow found a way to get two points. And having that on display at the halfway mark was encouraging for the group.
"There's a lot of character in the room," Oshie said. "And there's been a big learning curve with systems and guys' individual play, a lot of cold streaks, if you will. And I think through all of that, we're starting to develop a little bit of resiliency that really goes a long way down the stretch here when everyone's fighting for every point."
"Sacking up wins, especially now, is incredibly important. You just look at the way the conference looks right now in our division, I mean, everything is extremely tight. So points at this point in the year, second half, I mean, every point matters," Lindgren added. "I think last year we made a good push in December to kind of get us back in the race and then I thought, you know, kind of that we had a tougher January and February and that kind of put us out of the race. So I think our goal is just take it game by game but certainly just to play like we did tonight, we're gonna have a lot of success, I think."
Here's what the players had to say postgame: