This was a throwback to one of those old Patrick Division playoff matchups, where opponents went back-to-back through four sets of games from the first two rounds.
Here the Rangers and Capitals were handing it out in Washington on Saturday, with no space allowed and not given a quarter of an hour a night after the Capitals triumphed in a similar sort of taffy pull by the power of two late bouts of the incomparable Alex Ovechkin.
Beat the Blueshirts like that once, thanks to the capitals. Beat them twice like that in 27 hours, well, not on acting head coach Kris Knoblauch’s watch.
Or, for that matter, on Mika Zibanejad’s.
For it was a revived Zibanejad who played brilliantly in chasing Brendan Dillon, hacking the defender’s stick before pushing him off the puck before hauling it up to himself and hitting a short sideways riser past Ilya Samsonov at 5:28 PM of the third period to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead in a game they salt away 3-1, using Brett Howden’s empty net.
That was the kind of elite work that Zibanejad and the Blueshirts lived on last season, when a late strike garnered an invitation to the squad of 24 teams under the bubble. The music died in Toronto, but the crew starts humming again.
“I think they are very dedicated. I think they feel that they have a chance to make it to the playoffs and that they have to play well the whole last part, ” said Knoblauch, now 2-1 behind the bench, while filling in for David Quinn. who stays away from the club. team in COVID-19 protocol through at least Friday. “I think there is also a certain belief that they can play like they did in the second half last year when they did pretty well.”
Keith Kinkaid was excellent in the net, poised and in complete control as he faced the few gusts that his team’s five-man defense allowed. The dedication to playing through the body and standing on the right side of the puck was evident. So was the Rangers’ commitment to avoiding turnover or sloppy puck management in critical areas of the ice. They gave almost nothing away for free.
“I thought we were smart about the puck,” said Zibanejad. “They are a really good team with no rush, and we just had to make sure we didn’t cherish their attack.
Everyone came back. Everyone played hard and contributed in different ways, and I think that’s what we’ve been doing since clearly the Philly [9-0] big win and also in the last two games. We’ve been pretty good. “
The defense and goaltending were firm in limiting Washington to three goals in 120 minutes, all on setbacks from the slot machine. But one goal wasn’t enough to win on Friday, and the only goal Pavel Buchnevich put on the bench for a 1-0 lead at 5:49 PM of the first period on Saturday wouldn’t be enough when John Carlson scored on a whirlwind backhand to to bind it at 5:55 of the third period.
Knoblauch, who had his fourth line against Ovechkin’s unit on Friday for both goals of the Great Eight (or was caught), cut his bank in this one and rode his – or Quinn’s – horses across the stretch. This wasn’t a cookie cutter from behind the couch.
Alexis Lafreniere got a 34 second shift during the last 12:45 pm and finished with a season low of 7:53. Filip Chytil got two teams worth 1:10 in the last 12:45. Brendan Lemieux did not get on the ice in the 9:10 final. Libor Hajek sat for the final 11:48 and Brendan Smith was free for the final 8:34 as the club went through crunch time with four defenders.
Meanwhile, Adam Fox played at 5:12 of the last 9:55 and played 10:17 in the third period for a game total of 28:00. Zibanejad was on for 2:48 from the last 5:31 at a cost of 9:10 PM. Zibanejad won the face-off to score Buchnevich’s first period goal and then blocked shots before getting the winner.
“We got the puck out and I was really just chasing their D and trying to stay with him,” said Zibanejad, who has 10 points (4-6) in the past five games. “I got a push, I don’t know if he got into a rut or something, he fell, and I could grab the puck and try to get it on the net. It went in so it’s fun. “Of course it feels nice if you can contribute offensively. That’s expected of me of course, but I’ve said this before, I’ve been feeling pretty good for the past few weeks. I feel like myself again. “
The Rangers also look a bit spicier.