The Washington Capitals are convenient in the future in the Metropolitan Division, so they can enjoy Alex Ovechkin who goes closer to matching Wayne Gretzky for the most goals in NHL history without stressing the position.
The New York Rangers, the capitals’ opponents on Wednesday evening, are in a position where the position is often on their mind and their remaining regular seasonal play is a sprint to reach the playoffs.
With Ovechkin 10 goals shy for tying Gretzky’s record of 894, Capitals visits a Rangers squad that is looking for its first winning line in three games in almost four months.
After being swept by Rangers in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs last spring, the capitals renewed their list, quickly up to the divisional leadership and owned a two-digit lead over Carolina Hurricanes. Washington, a pedestrian 6-4-3 since he won six straight January 11-23, snapped his first three-game losing line on Monday night when Dylan Strome scored the lonely Shootout goal for the shooting in a 5-4 home victory over the Ottawa senators.
“We will certainly take the victory because we have rolled a little at home here,” said Capital’s coach Spencer Carbery. “But it didn’t look good there, didn’t feel good at any point in the game. So we look at some things, but we take the two points.”
Ovechkin was held without points for the 16th time and the capitals are 10-4-2 in these matches because others strike. Connor McMichael scored against Ottawa and has three of his 22 goals in his last five games. Pierre-Luc Dubois also scored and owns eight goals in his last 16 games while Tom Wilson has seven of his 27 Tallies in his last nine games.
Ovechkin has five goals since the return from 4 nation’s facial outages. He is also two points shy to become the 11th player to reach 1,600 in his career.
The Russian superstar may feel good about seeing Rangers on Wednesday evening because he already owns three goals against them this season. He made twice in Washington’s 5-3 home victory October 29 and once in his 7-4 home victory on January 4.
Rangers come consecutive 4-0 home closures by Nashville Predators and New York Islanders. New York has published a 4-1-0 record in his last five games since returning from the break with an 8-2 loss to Buffalo Sabers on February 22.
“Team can definitely get an advantage, I think, from playing Playoff -Hockey -fighting for their lives, scraping for their lives,” said New York coach Peter Laviolette. “It may be an advantage of going into the playoffs. You have to get there. We have a lot of work to do. There is a long way to go. There are many teams that are just around us, and you have to stay consistently with how you play, and hopefully that consistency leads to profits.”
On Monday, Will Cuylle and Will Borgen scored during the last five minutes of the first period. JT Miller and Artemi Panarin made in the third when Rangers allowed 21 shots on goal after allowing a season-low 16 in a 3-2 loss Friday to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Rangers have done four significant business so far and can do more before Friday’s deadline. Reilly Smith was held for the second straight game for roster handling purposes and Chris Kreider has missed the last five matches with an upper body injury.
Miller is the most prominent of his acquisitions and owns seven goals in 11 matches since he was acquired from Vancouver Canucks January 31. He also has five goals and five assists during his season-high six-game points.
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