Derick Brassard goes from penalty box to Game 2 hero for Rangers
NEW YORK – Derick Brassard felt terrible.
The New York Rangers forward tried to slow down Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals with a little good ol’ fashioned interference, which is a bit like trying to lasso a freight train. The referees caught Brassard and sent him to the penalty box at 3:57 of the third period, giving the Capitals’ high-octane power play their first chance of Saturday afternoon’s Game 2, trailing 2-1.
“I was feeling not very good, actually,” said Brassard. “But I was confident in our penalty kill. And when I came out of the penalty box I had some jump, had some energy.”
When he emerged from the penalty box, he transitioned to offense. Martin St. Louis confidently slipped a pass from the top of the Capitals’ zone through the outreached sticks of Jay Beagle and Matt Niskanen to Brassard, who quickly slammed the puck through the pads of Braden Holtby for his fourth of the playoffs and the eventual game-winner in their 3-2 victory in Game 2 of the Metro Division championship series.
“Got a lucky bounce, and it went in,” he said of the goal, scored 10 seconds after his penalty ended.
Brassard, Chris Kreider and Dan Boyle scored for the Rangers; Evgeny Kuznetsov and Alex Ovechkin – in spectacular fashion – tallied for the Capitals, who return to Washington for Monday’s Game 3 with a 1-1 series.
“We weren’t good enough to win this hockey game. Plain and simple,” said Capitals coach Barry Trotz. “We didn’t play our game for 60 minutes, and you can’t get around that.”
The Rangers broke through early on a play that Chris Kreider started and finished.
He chipped the puck into the Capitals’ zone from the blue line – a hard redirect that thumped against Holtby’s (26 saves) pads. Derek Stepan collected it on left wing, swung it to a breaking Jesper Fast for a shot that Holtby saved. But Kreider was there to collect the rebound for an open net goal just 38 seconds into the game.
The Capitals were then dominated for the rest of the period, the Rangers tilting the ice and outshooting them 15-4. It was reminiscent of their opening stanzas against the Penguins in the first round – controlling play and earning power plays, as the Capitals were whistled for three minors in the first.
Dan Boyle scored on that third penalty – an idiotic leaping hit from Tom Wilson behind the play and behind Henrik Lundqvist’s net – after Washington got a bad break on a clearing attempt that hit the referee’s arm. It remained in the zone, trickled to Boyle and he fired it through a Rick Nash screen into the top corner of the net for the 2-0 lead.
“I just want to win, man,” said Boyle, when asked about his goal. “I know there’s going to be a lot of dissecting of goals and assists. Is it nice to score a goal? Of course. But I Want to win hockey games.
It wasn’t a strong start for the Caps.
“We knew the Rangers were going to come out with a high degree of desperation, and they did. We needed to get out of the first period down 1-0. We dug ourselves a hole.”
Lundqvist (25 saves) was a bit busier in the second period, and made two outstanding saves: One in which the puck hit his glove, popped up and then he shoved it aside with his blocker; and then a twisting blocker save on Evgeny Kuznetsov later:
The Capitals finally cut the lead on goal by first-round Game 7 hero Evgeny Kuznetsov. After he dumped the puck to the corner, Jason Chimera tracked it down and put it on Lundqvist. He kicked it to the slot where two of his defenders were; unfortunately, one of them, Boyle, was looking in the other direction when Kuznetsov snuck his stick through Boyle’s legs and put it past Lundqvist.
After killing the Capitals’ power play in the third, Brassard’s goal was huge, but it almost felt like it wouldn’t be enough after Ovechkin’s acrobatic tally cut that lead to 3-2.
“We were close. We just had to manage our emotions, manage our game and stay focused with what we wanted to do,” said Ovechkin.
The Capitals came close at the end with Holtby pulled, but it wasn’t enough. The Rangers gutted out a physical, punishing and intense Game 2 to tie the series.
“We bent, but we didn’t break, at the end,” said Boyle. “
