WASHINGTON — Penalties have been piling up for the Rangers in recent games, and they're starting to take a toll.
Outside of Thursday's win over the Bruins, the Rangers have been called for at least eight penalty minutes in each of their past eight games, including six straight games with more than 10 minutes.
In the same period, they have played at least 20 minutes in the box twice.
In Washington's 7-4 win on Saturday, both the Rangers and Capitals committed the same number of penalties (four), but the home team capitalized on two power plays while the visitors were held scoreless. It was.
“We have to take an honest look at the penalties we're getting and see if there's something there. Is it aggression or is it a reach,” Mika Zibanejad said. “There's always something that leads to a penalty. Sure, it doesn't help. I feel like things like that come and go in waves, but if we're out of the zone, it's a mistake. It will be beneficial and helpful to us.”
The Capitals' second stretch with the man advantage saw Washington wreak havoc around Rangers goaltender Jonathan Quick after Brett Berard sat in the box for a keep, then Dylan Strome. buried the rebound to tie the game at one-all at the end of the first period. .
Quick was furious and immediately told the referee. Maybe it was traffic in and around the crease, or Alex Ovechkin getting tangled up in Quick's stick on the way to the basket.
Additionally, just 13 seconds after Sam Carrick put the Rangers within one point at 3-2 in the second period, Ryan Lindgren was called for a delay of play for tipping the puck over the glass.
Forward Connor McMichael scored on the Capitals' ensuing power play.
On Saturday, Washington ended up going 2-for-4 on the man advantage, fending off all four of the Rangers' chances.
With the Rangers trailing 3-1 in the second period, Will Quill knocked home a feed from a player. Filip Sitil from behind the net.
However, after taking a timeout to further assess the goal, the Capitals successfully challenged the offside challenge. The review took quite some time, but the play was ruled offside.
“This year has been too much for us,” Sittil said. “Like with our line, it's already the third or fourth point they took from us, and it's like the third point from the opponent.” [Cuylle] They take it away from him. Of course, that doesn't help you or your team. With 3 wins and 2 losses, they might be one step closer. Another small thing, another critical challenge removes it. But then I forgot about that and I was hungry to score, so I scored. [score] One is that we might be able to score more points. But what can I say, today is behind us and we will come to the rink tomorrow and try to be better than today. ”
Seven minutes into Saturday's game, Rangers got a fortuitous break. Capitals goaltender Logan Thompson tried to clear a shot, but it was deflected to the right by Chris Kreider, who fired a shot from long range into the empty goal for a 1-0 lead.
The goal was Kreider's 13th of the season.
Quick stopped 21 of the 27 shots he faced in the loss.
