With their backs against the wall and their season on the line, the Washington Capitals played perhaps the best all-around game of the Stanley Cup playoffs Wednesday night in Game 6 at the Verizon Center.
The result: a 2-1 victory over the New York Rangers, which forces a Game 7 Saturday night at Madison Square Garden that can be seen at 7:30 p.m. on the NBC Sports Network. The winner earns a spot in the Eastern Conference Finals. The loser goes home.
The Capitals stood toe-to-toe with elimination Wednesday night and returned it to sender on the first Acela back to Broadway.
Washington came out of the locker room flying in the first period and never looked back. They beat the Rangers to loose pucks, threw crushing body checks in all zones and dominated play.
And that hard work paid off early, as Jason Chimera drew a penalty with his speed. That set up the Capitals' first power play. And the skill players converted it into a goal just 1:28 into the game. Alex Ovechkin, who failed to get a shot on goal in Game 5, took a pass from the right-wing boards by Nicklas Backstrom and one-timed it over Henrik Lundqvist's glove to give the Caps the lead.
The Capitals added to their lead in the second period, this time after some solid board work by Alex Semin. Yes, Alex Semin. He battled down low for a puck and eventually worked out of the left corner and tried to throw a puck on net. The biscuit rolled off his stick, but went to the right point, where John Carlson picked it up and fired it toward the net. The puck deflected off of Nicklas Backstrom's skate and went into the crease, where Chimera was Johnny on the spot and tapped it home.
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"It's a good feeling when the puck ends up on your stick right there and you put it in," Chimera told Comcast SportsNet after the game.
Later in the period the Caps avoided a repeat of Monday night's penalty-killing nightmare that led to two goals -- one at the end of regulation and another in the ensuing overtime. This time around it was Jeff Halpern who took a high-sticking penalty on John Mitchell. Halpern's stick smacked Mitchell on the bridge of his nose, drawing blood. That gave the Rangers four minutes with the man advantage, but they couldn't capitalize on the opportunity. The Capitals' PK held, maintaining that 2-0 lead after two periods.
"It was a big kill, and the crowd went crazy, so it was a big momentum lift for us," Chimera said.
That two-goal lead probably felt like a 10-goal lead considering how tight this series has been played. The insurance goal by Chimera made a big difference in the Caps' mindset in the third period.
"It was one of those things when you look up at the scoreboard with 10 minutes left and it's like, 'This is pretty comfortable,' " Chimera said with a smile. "We did a good job keeping them to the outside, and the two-goal lead was nice."
The Rangers threw everything they had at the Capitals late in the third, and finally scored with 50 seconds left, leaving many Caps fans pondering if they were about to witness another final-seconds collapse like they saw in Game 5.
With Lundqvist pulled, the Rangers won a faceoff and got the puck to sniper Marian Gaborik in the faceoff circle along the right-wing boards. He one-timed a slap shot into a heap of bodies in front of the net. His shot deflected off of John Carlson's back and into the net.
But there was no miracle comeback in the final seconds this time around as the Capitals held on for the win.
Braden Holtby was stellar once again for the Caps, stopping 30 of 31 shots. The rookie's calm demeanor was key. With an early lead he was able to settle in and focus on stopping pucks while his teammates cleared out the crease.
"Great job by Holts," Matt Hendricks told Pierre McGuire after Wednesday night's win. "He stood on his head for us all night. We couldn't have done it without him, and we look forward to No. 7 now."
Meanwhile, Ovechkin rebounded from his disappointing Game 5 performance to not only score the game's first goal but become the offensive threat and physical force that Caps fans are used to seeing.
Add it all up, and Caps' fans have got to like the team's chances in Game 7. For two straight games they've been able to bottle the Rangers' offense for nearly six straight periods. Take away the late PK mishap in Game 5 and the deflected goal late in Game 6, and the team defense has been superb.
"We thought we played a good game (in Game 5)," Hendricks said. "We got a few bad bounces there at the end, and we knew if we came out, played the same way, stuck to our guns and stayed out of penalty trouble, we'd have a a great chance to win the game and push to Game 7.
