NHL Playoffs: Sloppy First Period Costs Caps Game 2

Just 38 seconds into Game Two of the series, New York Rangers left winger Chris Kreider followed up on a juicy rebound off Washington Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby. Kreider also had the advantage of catching all five Washington players puck-watching and not defending.

Rangers’ defenseman Dan Boyle put New York up 2-0 on one of their three power plays in the first period, which ended the Capitals’ penalty kill streak during the 2015 post season at 17 straight. The play unfolded when Washington right winger Troy Brouwer’s clearing attempt didn’t have enough momentum to exit the Capitals’ zone. Boyle retrieved the puck and fired a seemingly innocent shot toward the net, which went top left corner untouched.

After their first shots, the Caps went 11:40 minutes without getting any on goal. At its conclusion, the Rangers outshot the Capitals 15-4.

The second period was a different story for Washington.

The Capitals managed to step up their offensive game in the middle stanza and get 16 shots on goal. The only reason they were unable to tie the game or take a lead was because of multiple superb stops by Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundvist who had 30 saves on the night.

Not to be outdone by his counterpart, Holtby made some great stops of his own to keep his team in the game.

Late in the second period, Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov lost a faceoff in the Washington defensive zone but slipped past his opposing center and took control of the puck. Left winger Jason Chimera joined Kuznetsov on the rush. “Kuzy,” as he’s known, passed the red line and fired a dump in off the right corner board, which took a favorable bounce toward the slot in front of King Henrik. Chimera fired a quick snapshot off the bounce, which was blocked by a Lundqvist kick save. The rebound squirted out to Kuznetsov who made it a one-goal game with 6:01 left in the second period.

At the 3:57 mark in the final period, the Capitals found themselves on the man advantage for the first time in the game, trailing by one. After a few shots that included another great save from Lundqvist, the Rangers scored. New York center Derrick Brassard scored the goal just 10 seconds after exiting the penalty box for interference and made it a 3-1 game.

With 9:30 left in the game and the Capitals trailing 3-1, Caps left winger Alex Ovechkin cut through the Rangers top defensive unit — Ryan McDonagh and Dan Girardi — like a knife through warm butter. Ovechkin then proceeded to get tripped and, in the middle of a fall, was able to roof the puck over Lundqvist’s right shoulder.

Even though in Game 1, the Capitals scored with 1.3 seconds remaining to win the game, they would not score in the final 9:30 of Game 2.

This afternoon’s loss is the first such defeat in Holtby’s playoff career. This brings his Game 2 playoff record to 3-1.

The series moves back to the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. Monday night, the puck drop at 7:30 p.m. For those not attending Game 3, the game can be seen on NBCSN.