The Rangers eliminated the Washington Capitals on Sunday, April 28th at the Capital One Arena with a 4-2 victory. New York is the first team to move into the second round, and they’ll play either the Carolina Hurricanes or the New York Islanders. Carolina leads the best-of-7 series 3-1, and they’ll host the Islanders on Tuesday for Game 5. Igor Shesterkin made a total of 23 saves for New York, and Mika Zibanejad recorded two assists in the Rangers’ victory.
Rangers lineup against the Capitals:
Kreider – Zibanejad – Roslovic
Panarin – Trocheck – Lafreniere
Cuylle – Wennberg – Kakko
Vesey – Goodrow – Rempe
Lindgren – Fox
Miller – Schneider
Gustafsson – Trouba
Shesterkin
Quick
Capitals lineup against the Rangers:
Ovechkin – McMichael – Oshie
Protas – Strome – Wilson
Pacioretty – Lappiere – Milano
Malenstyn – Dowd – Aube-Kubel
Fehervary – Carlson
Sandin – Jensen
Alexeyev – McIlrath
Lindgren
Kuemper
The Rangers struck first only 57 seconds into the opening frame when Kaapo Kakko shot quickly from the right hash marks. Nick Jensen attempted to make a move around Will Cuylle in the defensive zone, however, he lost the puck to Kakko. Martin Fehervary tied it 1-1 with 5:06 remaining on the clock when Aliaksei Protas found him for a shot at the left circle after Dylan Strome had forced a turnover along the right boards. With just seconds left in the first on the power play, Vincent Trocheck put New York back on top when he had been fed by Mika Zibanejad, who received a pass below the left circle. Trocheck lifted a shot over Charlie Lindgren, who fell down as he was trying to push back off the post.
Hendrix Lappiere tied it once again at 2-2 with his first career playoff goal in the middle frame, which marks him as the third Capitals player to score their first post-season goal this series (Connor McMichael and Martin Fehervary). Lappiere had chipped in his own rebound after Igor Shesterkin saved his original attempt.
Artemi Panarin scored the go-ahead goal to put the Rangers back in the lead 3-2 early into the third frame on a power play. He put a wrist shot past Charlie Lindgren that went under his left arm off a pass from Mika Zibanejad after skating around the net at 16:39 of the third. Jack Roslovic struck the empty net for the 4-2 final.
Vincent Trocheck on what it says about the Rangers being able to close a team out in four games: “Winning a playoff series in general is a difficult thing to do and to close out a team in four is even tougher. I think the fourth one is always the hardest. I think it just says that we’re a good hockey team. We’ve shown it every game, and I think even tonight when we weren’t at our best, we were still able to do the little things right whenever we had a lead. Like ‘Troubs’ said, I think ‘Shesty’ obviously helped us out there. He is a part of the team and whenever we do have a little bit of a letdown, he’s back there to save our butts.”
Jacob Trouba on the Game 4 victory: “Not our best game probably overall, but I think the power play came up with a big goal at the start of the third, and ‘Shesty’ made some good saves in the third. I thought we did a pretty good job of limiting chances and kind of keeping on the outside… I think we can do a better job definitely of making a simple play, chipping a puck out, or winning a couple more battles, and we’ll do that going forward. It was good to be able to win a game when we’re not at our best and find a way to close out the series.”
Notes:
– Mika Zibanejad extended his multi-point streak to three games (one goal, five assists).
– The Rangers are the sixth Presidents’ Trophy winner to sweep their opening-round series. The others had been the 2020-21 Colorado Avalanche, the 2000-01 Avalanche, the 1988-99 Dallas Stars, the 1993-94 Rangers, and the 1985-86 Edmonton Oilers.
– Charlie Lindgren made a total of 19 saves for Washington.
– The Rangers were 3-for-4 on the power play, and the Washington Capitals were 0-for-2.
