Washington
Goaltender Charlie Lindgren, making his playoff debut, stopped 27 shots for Washington. Igor Shesterkin made 20 saves for New York. Game 2 is Tuesday night.
A lack of offense was Washington’s Achilles’ heel for much of the season, and that problem remained for Game 1 of the playoffs. Coach Spencer Carbery said a few days earlier that his team needs to put more pucks on net in this series; shot totals in the low 20s, he felt, wouldn’t be enough.
Washington recorded 21 shots on goal Sunday; defenseman Martin Fehervary scored the lone goal on a deflection off his skates near the front of the net — after the Capitals had fallen into a 3-0 hole.
“We’ve got to do a way better job offensively,” Carbery said. “It’s no secret: We’ve struggled all year, but we’ve got to find ways to create more on the interior. We’ve got to skate out of pressure. … We’ve got to do a better job offensively.”
The first period featured more special teams play than is typical in the postseason. Each team had two power plays and the teams spent two minutes at fouron-four, but neither side broke through. For the Capitals, killing two penalties against the regular season’s third-ranked power play could’ve — and perhaps should’ve — given them momentum to build on, but they couldn’t find enough traction.
“They’ve obviously got very good special teams over there,” defenseman John Carlson said. “To shut them down on the PK was big momentum for us. We had plenty of chances to grab it through those kills, through the power plays, but when you let it blow in the wind, you never know what’s going to happen.”
The low-event, tightly contested matchup broke wide open early in the second period. As the Rangers worked the puck around the net behind Lindgren, defenseman Alexander Alexeyev lost contact with New York forward Matt Rempe, who found space at the back post. He was perfectly positioned for a tap-in finish off a feed across the crease from Jimmy Vesey at 4:17 — much to the delight of the home crowd, which christened Rempe a cult hero mere seconds into his NHL career back in February.
The crowd chanted Rempe’s name when he lined up for his first shift; the chants returned, and multiplied in volume, after he scored the first goal of the series.
It took the Rangers 33 seconds to double their lead. New York again worked the puck around the offensive zone, and forward Alexis Lafrenière took defenseman Vincent Iorio out of the play with a hit along the boards. While Iorio was down, Vincent Trocheck found Artemi Panarin on an offensive-zone two-on-one — Panarin, who had 49 goals in the regular season, beat Lindgren over the glove.
Iorio exited with an upperbody injury and did not return; Carbery did not have an update on his status after the game.
Iorio’s teammates, particularly winger T.J. Oshie, were irate that there was no penalty called on Lafrenière. Carbery called the hit “borderline” but pointed to Iorio needing to release the puck quicker to avoid ending up in a vulnerable position.
“Young player. [I] feel bad for him because he puts himself in a tough spot,” Carbery said. “Probably needs to move the puck quicker there, just get it out of his hands. He hangs on to it and bobbles it.”