We have a series between the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers. The No. 7-seeded Caps tied their best-of-seven Eastern Conference Semifinal at 1-1 with a 3-2 win at Madison Square Garden on Monday night, heading back to the red confines of Verizon Center with a chance to do some real damage against the top-seeded Rangers on home ice.
Alex Ovechkin scored the game-winning goal in the third period after seeing limited ice time throughout the game. He only played 13:36 in total throughout the hockey game -- less than Jay Beagle, among others -- but made that time count, scoring the winning goal and taking 10 shot attempts at the net in the time he did see on the ice.
Braden Holtby made 25 saves for the Capitals while Jason Chimera and Mike Knuble added the other two Washington goals. Brad Richards and Ryan Callahan brought New York back from a 2-0 deficit, and it seemed like the Rangers had the momentum after Richards' goal in the third period. But then Ovi scored, and the Caps defense was able to bend, but not break in the remaining 7:27 of the game.
Did they get some help? Yes, they got some help. Ping. Michael Del Zotto hit the crossbar in the final minute -- one of many on the night for the Rangers -- but that's playoff hockey. Sometimes you get the bounces, sometimes you don't. You need the bounces to win, and that's what the Caps saw firsthand in Game 2.
We have full coverage of Capitals vs. Rangers Game 2 in our StoryStream. For more on the Caps, check with Japers' Rink, and for more on the Rangers, check with Blueshirt Banter.