WASHINGTON _ When you put the defending President's Trophy winners up against a team in transition in the fifth game of the season, the results should not be surprising.
But on Saturday they were.
Picked by almost everyone to win the Metropolitan Division and compete with Tampa for the Eastern Conference championship, the Capitals rolled to a two-goal lead over the Rangers at Verizon Center in the first period, but the visitors scored three straight goals _ sandwiched around an excellent four-minute penalty-kill during which they allowed the Capitals just one shot and the Rangers came away with a 4-2 win.
During that second period rally, Brandon Pirri's wrister from high between the circles off a rush beat Braden Holtby glove side and rookie Jimmy Vesey scored twice _ first on a power-play after a pass from Rick Nash stationed in front at 11:22 and then on a great individual effort three minutes later, driving down the left side through defenseman Karl Alzner and cutting to the net to deposit a backhander past Holtby.
The three goals were remarkable because the Capitals had allowed just five goals _ only two at even strength _ in four games.
In the third, the Rangers worked hard to break up plays and block shots. In one sequence with about 12 minutes left, after Lundqvist stopped Evgeny Kuznetsov, Kevin Klein and Ryan McDonagh blocked tries by Alex Oveckin and T.J. Oshie. Capital coach Barry Trotz pulled Holtby for an extra attacker with 1:37 left and called a timeout with 57.9 left. Nash sealed the intense win with an empty-netter with 5.9 seconds left and the Rangers upped their record to 3-2. The Caps dropped to 3-1-1.
Lundqvist, who now is 11-3-2 against the Caps in his last 16 decisions, had made the lead stand and the Rangers had won nine of the last 12 at Verizon Center.
The Blueshirts had struggled early with Lars Eller finding position while matched against Brady Skjei in front of the net to tip Brooks Orpik's shot past Lundqvist at 1:09 of the first period, and the Caps continued to control play for most of the period. The Capitals also killed two penalties, although the second came after Ovechkin had lifted them to a 2-0 advantage when he skated toward the right circle and used Marc Staal as a screen to fire a shot past Lundqvist at 14:49. It was Ovechkin's third goal of the season. Although the Rangers had 13 shots on Holtby, the Caps were winning battles all over the ice.
As it turned out, the Blueshirts won the last one.
