The Washington Capitals are comfortably ahead in the Metropolitan Division, so they can enjoy Alex Ovechkin inching closer to matching Wayne Gretzky for the most goals in NHL history without stressing out about the standings.
The New York Rangers, the Capitals’ opponent on Wednesday night, are in a position where the standings are frequently on their mind and their remaining regular-season games are a sprint to reach the playoffs.
With Ovechkin 10 goals shy of tying Gretzky’s record of 894, the Capitals visit a Rangers squad seeking its first three-game winning streak in nearly four months.
After being swept by the Rangers in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs last spring, the Capitals revamped their roster, quickly ascended to the division lead and own a double-digit lead over the Carolina Hurricanes. Washington, a pedestrian 6-4-3 since winning six straight Jan. 11-23, snapped its first three-game losing streak on Monday night when Dylan Strome scored the lone shootout goal of the shootout in a 5-4 home win over the Ottawa Senators.
“We’ll certainly take the win because we’ve been reeling a little bit at home here,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said. “But it didn’t look good out there, didn’t feel good at any point of the game. So, we’ll look at a few things, but we’ll take the two points.”
Ovechkin was held without a point for the 16th time and the Capitals are 10-4-2 in those games because others are pitching in. Connor McMichael scored against Ottawa and has three of his 22 goals in his past five games. Pierre-Luc Dubois also scored and owns eight goals in his past 16 games while Tom Wilson has seven of his 27 tallies in his past nine games.
Ovechkin has five goals since the return from the 4 Nations Face-Off break. He also is two points shy of becoming the 11th player to reach 1,600 in his career.
The Russian superstar might feel good about seeing the Rangers on Wednesday night because he already owns three goals against them this season. He scored twice in Washington’s 5-3 home win Oct. 29 and once in its 7-4 home win Jan. 4.
The Rangers are coming off consecutive 4-0 home shutouts of the Nashville Predators and New York Islanders. New York has posted a 4-1-0 record in its past five games since returning from the break with an 8-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Feb. 22.
“Teams can definitely gain an advantage, I think, from playing playoff hockey — fighting for their lives, scrapping for their lives,” New York coach Peter Laviolette said. “That can be a benefit going into the playoffs. You’ve got to get there. We’ve got a lot of work to do. There’s a long way to go. There’s a lot of teams that are right around us, and you’ve got to stay consistent with the way you play, and hopefully that consistency leads to wins.”
On Monday, Will Cuylle and Will Borgen scored in the final five minutes of the first period. J. T. Miller and Artemi Panarin scored in the third as the Rangers allowed 21 shots on goal after allowing a season-low 16 in a 3-2 loss Friday to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Rangers have made four significant trades so far and may make more ahead of Friday’s deadline. Reilly Smith was held out for the second straight game for roster management purposes and Chris Kreider has missed the past five games with an upper-body injury.
Miller is the most prominent of their acquisitions and owns seven goals in 11 games since being acquired from the Vancouver Canucks Jan. 31. He also has five goals and five assists during his season-high six-game points streak.
–Field Level Media
