Playing at home in DC the Washington Capitals ended their two game losing streak and skated away with a 4-3 OT victory over division rival New York Rangers. Defenseman Matt Niskanen scored off an Evgeny Kuznetsov rebound with 2:43 left in the OT period. The elusive Kuznetsov ripped a high glove shot that Ranger starter Henrik Lundqvist couldn’t hold on to. Playing 3 on 3 Niskanen had skated to the net and put it in past the sprawling NY goalie. Coming into the game the Caps, losers of 2 straight, had not lost 3 regular season games in regulation in a row since pre- 2017-18 Stanley Cup season. This is a much needed win for the Caps as they need to get some consistency together and avoided falling under .500.

When the New York Rangers took penalties Wednesday night it cost them. The Washington Capitals power play has been arguably the best in the NHL for years now and early on this season the Caps continue to get contribution with the man advantage. The Caps went 2 for 4 and they remain hot on the PP as they entered the game at a 39.8% clip. Alex Ovechkin scored his fifth and sixth goals on the PP giving him 232 career PP goals now to tie him with Dino Ciccarelli for sixth on the NHL’s all-time list. The 2 goals now give The Great Eight 24 career goals against Lundqvist, the most of any goaltender he has faced over his 14 NHL seasons. He and John Carlson, who also had scored on a beautiful slapshot to open the Capitals scoring continue to trade shooting chances on the PP. Carlson finished with 2 assists also for 3 points as he continues his strong play.

The Capitals penalty kill unit, however, gave up a couple of PP goals themselves on four chances including the game tying 3-3 goal mid way through the third by Chris Kreider as he tipped in a point shot past Holtby while the newly inserted Nathan Walker was in the box for Washington. It’s the second time in a row the Caps suffered a game tying PP goal against early in the third period.

Braden Holtby was strong again between the pipes for Washington making 29 saves on 32 shots. Through two periods the teams had 27 shots each and if not for Holtby you could argue the Caps may have suffered a different fate. Among many toe saves from in close he also made a huge save at the end of the 2nd period as he saved a breakaway on a shorthanded attempt by New York.

The Capitals ( 3-2-1 - 7pts ) will look to get a winning streak going as they host the Florida Panthers at Capital One Arena 7PM EST on Friday night before heading out on a swing through Western Canada.