Actor Michael Douglas takes in the game with his daughter Carys (Photo credit: Bruce Bennett)

Sigh. (Photo credit: Kathy Willens)

This could be the pivotal game in the series. Up 2-0 Washington had the chance to all but put the Rangers away. But all it took to derail those plans, however, was one bad bounce off Karl Alzner’s shoulder.

The first period was scoreless and fairly even with Caps holding a 5-4 advantage in scoring chances. Despite not having a lead after 20 minutes of play the frame had to be considered a positive for Washington after killing off New York’s one and a half minute five-on-three power play late.

The Rangers opened the scoring at 5:30 in the second period when Erik Christensen threaded the needle, firing a sharp-angle wrister from the corner over Michal Neuvirth’s shoulder on the man-advantage. The Capitals remained down by one until Bruce Boudreau juggled the lines, putting Alex Ovechkin, Jason Arnott and Mike Knuble together. It would pay dividends just minutes later when Arnott fired a shot from the corner before Ovechkin potted it home to tie the game.

Eight minutes into the third, Vinny Prospal gave New York a 2-1 advantage, putting the rebound from Eric Marc Staal’s blast from the point into the back of the net. But when in comes to scoring gritty goals in front of the net, no one can outdo Knuuuuuuuble, as he whacked home the loose puck after Nicklas Backstrom’s one-time rocket on the power play. You might want to stop reading now.

With just 1:39 remaining in the game Brandon Dubinsky fired shot on Neuvirth, hitting Alzner. Before Neuvirth could react, six ounces of vulcanized rubber were in the back of the net. The Czech netminder hung his head in dejection and Ovechkin lay face down on the ice. Rangers shock Caps, 3-2.

• The biggest key of the game was obviously all of the penalties called against the Capitals. The Rangers were awarded seven power plays — the Capitals would only receive three — and went to a two-man advantage twice. When Bruce Boudreau was interviewed during a break of play in the second period by NBC’s Darren Pang, the frustrated coach told the former NHL goalie, “We have to stay out of the penalty box. Though those are some pretty ticky-tack calls for a playoff game.” And he was right. While New York was getting away with some rather unsportsmanlike plays, Washington was getting called for some questionable infractions. The normally reserved Nicklas Backstrom told the media after the game that, “it wasn’t me, it was the ref” regarding his third period penalty. The calls kept the Capitals best players off the ice and it kept them from finding their offensive mojo.
• The Rangers game plan Friday was to finish every check and rub out any Caps player that they could, including targeting Mike Green’s up high. That didn’t work, so today they tried to do anything and everything they could to get into Michal Neuvirth’s head. The lowlights were Brandon Prust’s bump of Neuvirth as he skated to the other side of the ice during a stoppage in play, Sean Avery’s punch in the head after a save in the second and Avery getting in the rookie’s face after a whistle in the third. There were at least five more instances of dirty play after the whistle between these two players and Neuvirth, yet the officials refused to make a call. Boudreau even revealed after the game that “[the officials] kept on warning [the Rangers] at the bench not to do it. And then they didn’t call it. So they continued to do it.” The officials did an absolute abysmal job of calling this game. But I suppose that’s hockey sometimes.
• This is a joke.
• Maybe I’m being a bit nit-picky, but when Eddie Olczyk brought out the telestrator to diagram how NHL Official Chris Rooney hurt himself, I found it to be both classless and unnecessary. All you have to do is say, “he tripped over the net” and show the replay. You don’t have to humiliate him by circling him with your pen and then using graphic arrows to show where he fell down. Rooney, who bravely tried to skate the injury off, was later diagnosed with a broken fibula and declared done for the season. Yes, even officials are gamers in the playoffs. We here at RMNB wish Chris a speedy recovery.
• Alex Ovechkin is the captain and the team’s leader for a reason. He has either scored or assisted on four of the Capitals seven goals during the playoffs. Today, he chipped in the game-tying goal (at the time) by rushing the net like a bull and he also doled out five hits. The Russian Machine even took the blame for his blown coverage in front of the net on the Rangers game-winning goal. I would be hard-pressed to blame only him on the play — ::shakes fist at hockey gods:: — but nonetheless, it shows leadership to put the loss square on his own shoulders considering everything that he contributed offensively.
• 

  The Rangers were .2 seconds away from scoring a back-breaking tally at the end of the second period.

  Overall, the Capitals held a 16 to 14 advantage in scoring chances but doubled the Rangers up, 14 to seven, at even-strength. They also limited New York to only one even strength chance in both the first and second periods. In the third, however, the Rangers looked like they wanted the game more and out-chanced the Capitals five to three. Sure Dubinsky’s goal was flukey, but crazy things happen like that when you crash the net hard.
• Mike Knuble echoed that sentiment after the game. After answering the Rangers second tally with a goal from his office, the right winger told the media that, “we can do a lot more around the net. It seems like that’s going to be the only way people are going to score.”
• An interesting factoid: the Capitals lost in regulation for the first time with Jason Arnott in the line-up (12-1-1) since acquiring him at the trade deadline.
• Speaking of Arnott, after being used primarily as a defensive cog by Bruce Boudreau during the regular season, he only took three of his twenty face-offs in the defensive zone today. Nicklas Backstrom took five. Clearly Boudreau was doing all he could to generate some more offense today.
• Alex Semin had a tremendous game. Despite the Capitals being whistled for eight penalties, Sasha Minor stayed out of the box and kept his stick to himself. Bravo! He was also on the ice for eight scoring chances for and one against. Semin also led the team with six shots on goal.
• After Brandon Dubinsky scored on what would eventually reveal itself as the game-winning goal, Michal Neuvirth dropped his head to the ice in frustration. But Neuvy has nothing to be frustrated about. The rookie netminder kept his team in the game all day long, didn’t retaliate when he was unfairly targeted by the Rangers and made 32 big stops. Sure, the sharp-angled shot Erik Christensen scored over his shoulder probably should have been stopped somehow someway, but those goals are going to happen sometimes. Neuvy needs to rebound from the defeat and continue his strong play. The Caps were slow out of the corners and at times had terrible coverage in front of the net. There was nothing he could have done more.

It may only be one game, but the Rangers are now back in this series. The Caps better come out hungry on Wednesday or risk making this just like four of five best of sevens in the Boudreau era — a 2-0 lead before a total collapse.

One down. Three to go. But feel free to avoid doing that, Caps.

Additional reporting by Chris Gordon and Neil Greenberg.

No team has given the Washington Capitals more trouble this season than the New York Rangers. Those 6-0 and 7-0 shutouts pushed some Caps fans into spiritual desolation, broke up several marriages, and probably killed a house cat or two. Fitting then that the Caps and Rags should meet in this first round of the playoffs. You know that old Klingon proverb, right? Revenge is a dish best served by two guys from Russia named Alex.

We were scoreless through two periods when Rangers newbie Matt Gilroy caught a pass from Brandon Prust and beat Michal Neuvirth. With only six minutes and change left in regulation, Alex Ovechkin’s repeated swats forced the puck past Henrik Lundqvist’s pads. And then, after nearly nineteen minutes of overtime hockey and with fatigue setting in, Jason Arnott intercepted a bad clear from Marc Staal and set up Alex Semin for the game-winner. It took damn near eighty minutes, but the good guys pulled it out: the Caps beat the Rangers 2-1 (OT) and take a 1-0 lead in the series.

• Tip your hat to bench boss Bruce Boudreau, who managed shifts in this marathon match capably. No Capitals player clocked over 29 minutes (but Nicky Backstrom came darn close with 28:56) . That might have made the difference when you consider it was the gaffe of New York’s own ice-leader, Marc Staal (33:48), that led to the OTGWG.
• Thanks in large part to a dominant first period, the Capitals led scoring chances 21 to 14.
• The Rangers recovered to put some rubber against Michal Neuvirth eventually, but he turned away nearly all comers as if this weren’t his first post-season NHL appearance. 24 saves. That’s certainly good enough for another start if we’re still talking about such things.
• Neuvirth speaking to CSN about the win: “We just had fun out there.” Now isn’t that a much better credo than “Stay Angry”? Joy leads to success more than crankiness does, and I’m saying this as a professional cranky person.
• Mike Green‘s first game since the late eighties was a success, but he was on ice for half of the Rangers’ scoring chances and the Rags’ only goal. Still, @GreenLife52 at 100% health in the postseason is a sight we’ve not seen before now. Look out for this guy on Friday.
• Brooks Laich went 13-for-18 on the faceoff, but he was perfect until I jinxed him. My bad, Brooksy. Owe you a coke.
• There are few players that combine size and grace like Jason Chimera. If only he could add shooting accuracy to his arsenal. Chimmer had three pristine scoring chances: each missed by a country mile.
• The “Crash the net” refrain isn’t just something cute and gimmicky to shout; it’s a battle plan. NYR goalie Henrik Lundqvist is apparently immune to long bombs, so close combat was the only way to win this one. Alex Ovechkin‘s contribution to the history of crashed nets was a greasy, smash-mouth, ugly mess– but didn’t it just bring a tear to your eye? The video review and delay– they were just theatrics to enhance the story you’ll be telling all day tomorrow.
• When Ovechkin nailed Brandon Prust up high after that goal, disaster loomed. But these aren’t the Capitals of old, and the penalty-kill unit has learned one important new skill: THE SHUTDOWN.
• And then there’s Alex Semin. Bad Sasha, Good Sasha. He committed a hooking penalty so typical, we might think he were caricaturizing himself– like he had been watching old tapes of Andy Kaufmanor something. But under the kindly tutelage of Jason Arnott, Alex Semin found redemption. That game-winning goal was his first post-season marker in two playoff series, since the last time the Caps met the Rangers (which was back in the early eighties).

Joe B's suit of the night (thanks, @philo4th!)

There’s so much more to talk about from this super-sized game: Nicky Backstrom’s ever-lengthening drought, Jason Arnott’s underrated forecheck skills, how John Erskine is liable to kill a human being on national television at some point during this series– but we’re gonna leave it there for now. After all, it’s going to be a loooong post-season.

The Capitals played 80 minutes of gritty, character-revealing hockey. They didn’t get lazy and reckless when they reached exhaustion. Their best players were their best players (whatever that means), and they secured a meaningful victory. I’ve just marked the first of many tallies on the big board. 15 to go.

The Caps now lead the quarterfinal series 1-0, and the Red Army has another battle scheduled for Friday night. Russia’s finest expats will be there, in heart of the nation’s capital, flanked by their brosephs and cheered on by 20,000 unshaven crazy people.

Crash it.

Additional reporting by Neil Greenberg.