Rangers-Capitals: Washington Wins 4-0 to Take Revenge on Rangers

Alexander Semin had two goals and an assist to lead the Washington Capitals to a 4-0 record.  And Simeon Varlamov earned the shut out to win over the New York Rangers and get back into the first round of the NHL playoffs.

Henrik Lundqvist made his 25th start in a row, and Simeon Varlamov was given his second. Varlamov earned a shut out in his seventh NHL game and second playoff game.

The Rangers starting line was, once again, the Avery line, with Sean Avery, Scott Gomez, and Nik Antropov. The Capitals juggled their lines so Sergei Federov could play alongside Alexander Ovechkin.

Avery's first hit was on Alex Semin at the start of the first shift, to set the tone for the game, but the rest of the Rangers got off to a slow start. Michal Roszival was hit by an Ovechkin shot that drew blood early in the first period.

Semin got the first goal of the game, assisted by Nicklas Bäckström and Alex Ovechkin, and his second of the series close to the seven minute mark.

Colton Orr and Donald Brashear fought after Brashear crashed the Rangers net.

Halfway through the first period, the Capitals were out-shooting the Rangers ten to three. 

In the first two games, the Capitals have attempted 160 shots over the first two games, the Rangers 96: Capitals—70 shots on goal, 40 missed shots, and 50 blocked by the Rangers; the Rangers had, 45 shots on goal, 28 missed shots, and 23 blocked by the Capitals, according to Rangers broadcaster Kenny Albert, writing in Game On!

Ryan Callahan hit the post and saw the puck roll across the goal line, but not in, and Semin got his second goal, assisted by Ovechkin and Bäckström, less than half a minute later, making it 2-0 for the Capitals.

Avery went after Ovechkin with about five minutes left in the first period. David Steckel got called for holding with two minutes left in the period. The Capitals dominated most of the period, but the Rangers started to make a comeback at the end.

Markus Naslund got a holding penalty at the buzzer. The Rangers almost caught up to the Capitals in shots on net by the end of the period. It was 14 to 11 in favor of Washington.

At the start of the second period, John Erskine nailed Avery in front of the Capitals' net. Shortly after, Avery got called for roughing with John Erskine. Semin almost got a hat-trick at the start of the Avery penalty, but the Rangers were able to kill the penalty.

Avery got cross checked in front of the Capitals net a number of times, without penalties, but got called for high sticking when he did the same thing in front of the Rangers net. The Rangers fans reacted very negatively to the referees giving Avery his second penalty.

Lundqvist was forced to make a great save on Tomas Fleischmann during the Capitals power play. Federov got called for holding, and the Rangers went on the power play.

Avery was hit hard by Mike Green and several others.

The Rangers got another penalty when Chris Drury got called for hooking. Brooks Laich scored on the power play and then it was 3-0 for the Caps.

Ryan Callahan was sent to the penalty box for high sticking. Avery got his third penalty, for goaltender interference, and the crowd went wild in protest. He skated by Varlamov, the goalie, but contact was witnessed only by the ref, apparently.

The crowd booed the referee at the end of the period. The Caps were out shooting the Rangers 30 to 21 and out scoring them three to zero.

The crowd booed the ref, again, at the start of the third period when he gave a penalty to a Capital.

Varlamov hit Avery with his goal stick at the end of the game, after he got pushed on top of the goaltender. Avery had words with Varlamov, Erskine hit Avery, and Avery got two minutes for roughing plus a ten minute misconduct. The crowd that remained gave Avery an ovation.

The Caps got another goal on the power play. Tom Poti got his first playoff goal, assisted by Backstrom and Brian Pothier, and the game ended 4-0 for the Capitals. They now trail the series 2-1 with the next game in a couple of days.