New York Rangers' Power Play Upsets Caps 4-3 in Washington to Win Game One

The low-scoring New York Rangers power play surprised the Washington Capitals with a 4-3 upset over the Washington Capitals to take a 1-0 lead in their series in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the NHL.

Scott Gomez had a goal and two assists to lead the Rangers, who played without their team captain Chris Drury. Alexander Ovechkin had 13 shots plus 15 blocked and missed shots but did not score.

The Rangers are the underdogs in the series with the Capitals. The Rangers are given the edge in goal, on defense, and penalty killing, but the Caps are dominant on offense and the power play.

The Caps finished the regular season thirteen points ahead of the Rangers. Washington's record was 50-24-8 for 108 points and the Rangers' was 43-30-9 for 95 points.

The Rangers finished seventh in the Eastern Conference and the Caps finished second, so the first two games of the series are in Washington. Home ice is supposed to be a big advantage, especially in the playoffs, but it also puts the home team under pressure to win.

Ovechkin led the Capitals and the entire NHL in scoring with 56 goals. The Rangers' leading scorer, Nik Antropov, had half as many goals, and most of those he scored for the Toronto Maple Leafs before being traded to New York.

It was expected that Marc Staal and Dan Girardi would be given the job of checking Ovechkin and Donald Brashear would be given the job of fighting off Sean Avery. However, Brashear was scratched and replaced by Boyd Gordon.

Rangers' captain Drury missed his second game in a row and was replaced by Aaron Voros. Drury missed the final game of the regular season as well as the first game of the playoffs. He was fourth on the team in scoring this season with 56 points and was a mainstay on the power play and penalty kill.

The Rangers started with the Avery line, with Sean Avery, Scott Gomez, and Nik Antropov, and they proved to be their best line.
 
Dan Girardi got called for holding on the first shift of the game and the Rangers penalty killing unit went up against the Caps power play right away.

Alex Ovechkin immediately had a good scoring chance against Henrik Lundqvist on the power play. The Caps had three good shots on Lundqvist but the Rangers killed the penalty.

Ovechkin came out hitting and so did Avery. Ovechkin hit different players and Avery targeted Mike Green. Avery got a penalty for holding John Erskine just past the halfway point of the first period. The Rangers killed that penalty, too.

Ryan Callahan hit the post with the Rangers second shot on net, late in the first period.

The Rangers got their first turn on the power play when Green got called for delaying the game by shooting the puck over the glass. Avery took Drury's place on the power play.

The first period ended with the Caps outshooting the Rangers 14 to 3 but there was no score. The Caps out-hit the Rangers 16 to 11.

Sidney Crosby got the first goal of the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Pittsburgh Penguins got an early lead in their first game of their series against the Philadelphia Flyers on the goal by Crosby, assisted by Sergei Gonchar.

Ovechkin had six shots and six hits in the first period. He also took another five shots that were blocked or missed the net.

During the regular season, Ovechkin had more than 500 shots on goal. His 528 shots were second only to Phil Esposito's best season, back in 1970-1971, w hen he had 550.

Ovechkin scored on the power play, assisted by Green, but the goal was later given to Tomas Fleischmann.

Scott Gomez got a goal one minute later after Avery cleared a lane for him by accidentally running into and knocking down Green, who was supposed to be checking Gomez.

Ryan Callahan hit the post for the second time shortly after Gomez got his huge goal.

Nik Antropov scored on the power play with Erskine off for high sticking Avery. Antropov did not score a single goal in 20 playoff games with the Toronto Maple Leafs but his goal for the Rangers gave them their first lead in the game and the series.

Right after the Rangers second goal, the Caps took another penalty for delaying the game. The Rangers power play got another goal.

Markus Naslund put the puck past Jose Theodore to make it 3 to 1 for the visitors.

Green delivered a horrible hit on Fredrik Sjostrom and Nicklas Backstrom scored right after that hit to cut the Rangers lead to one with half a minute remaining in the second period.

It was the Rangers 3 and the Caps 2. The Caps were out shooting the Rangers 23 to 15 but the Rangers were out hitting the Caps 25 to 20.

Ovechkin alone had just five fewer shots on net than all the Rangers combined, not counting a few missed and blocked shots.

In the third period Wade Redden put the puck past Theodore with Avery standing over him but it did not go in the net.

It looked like Ovechkin tied the score with another goal, assisted by Green, but that one was given to Alexander Semin.

The Rangers killed another penalty and Naslund stepped onto the ice in time to take a pass from Antropov and make a pass to Brandon Dubinsky, who skated in to score a beautiful goal against Jose. The Rangers took the lead again, 4 to 3.

Naslund broke his stick over Ovechkin and took his third penalty of the game and the Rangers killed another one.

With two minutes remaining, Avery leveled Green in front of the Rangers bench, dumping him in. The Rangers called a time out.

With one minute remaining, Avery got a good shot on net and then fenced with Jose. Sergei Federov cross-checked Avery from behind and there was no penalty.

Washington pulled the goalie with a minute remaining and the Capitals called a time out. Ovechkin got a few more shots at the end of the game but could not score on Lundqvist.

The Rangers were outshot 35 to 21 but won the game 4 to 3. Theodore struggled on the opening night of the NHL playoffs, allowing four goals on 21 shots. Henrik Lundqvist made 32 saves to get the win for the Rangers.

Avery drew a couple of penalties. Erskine bothered Avery all night and tried to get him to fight. In 29 games for the Capitals last season, Erskine got one goal and 69 penalty minutes. He got  four goals and 405 penalty minutes playing with the Capitals, New York Islanders and Dallas Stars.

The Penguins beat the Flyers 4-1 on goals by Crosby, Tyler Kennedy, Evgeni Malkin, and Mark Eaton.

The next game in the Rangers-Capitals series is Saturday at 1:00 p.m. Pittsburgh and Philadelphia play on Friday at 7:30.