back from having his face bloodied in a first-period fight to net the
winning goal with 4:51 left, and Alex Ovechkin also scored in his
return from injury to lift the Washington Capitals to a 4-2 victory
over the New York Rangers on Tuesday night.
Bradley went to the dressing room
with 9:21 left in the opening period after taking several hard blows to
the face from New York’s Aaron Voros. Those injuries didn’t bother him
a bit when he knocked the puck away from Wade Redden and raced up ice
on a break. Matt Gilroy couldn’t catch him from behind, and Bradley
beat goalie Henrik Lundqvist with a rising shot to the glove side for
his fourth of the season.
Ovechkin missed six games because of
an upper body injury, believed to be a strained left shoulder, but came
back with a flourish. He netted his NHL-leading 15th goal, in only 15
games, while New York’s Sean Avery sat in the penalty box. That erased
the Rangers’ 1-0 advantage in the first period.
Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau earned his 100th NHL victory.
Marian Gaborik scored both goals for
the Rangers and moved into a tie with Ovechkin with his 15th, Gaborik
gave New York a 1-0 lead just 1:16 in and then made it 2-2 at 8:23 of
the third with a power-play goal against Washington backup goalie
Semyon Varlamov.
Brooks Laich pushed the Capitals in
front 2-1 when he got to a rebound of defenseman Mike Green‘s shot in
the crease and knocked it past Lundqvist and into the net with 4:16
remaining in the second. Green also earned the primary assist on
Ovechkin’s goal.
Brian Pothier scored an empty-netter with 16.7 seconds left to make it 4-2.
The Rangers were fortunate to be
trailing by only a goal heading into the third period as they were
outshot 21-11 through 40 minutes. New York finished with 20 shots,
tying its season low.
New York netted the equalizer when
Gaborik scored from the goal line to Varlamov’s right, snapping in a
shot from a difficult angle after the puck bounced to him. The Rangers
converted on the second of back-to-back penalties.
Washington went 4-2 while Ovechkin
was out, then beat New York despite missing top forward Alexander
Semin, who was sidelined by a sore right wrist. Varlamov got the start
in place of No. 1 goalie Jose Theodore, who was home because of a
personal reason.
Varlamov played well against the
Rangers after replacing Theodore in the nets during the first round of
last season’s playoffs and was a major reason why the Capitals were
able to erase a 3-1 series deficit and advance. He made 22 saves on
Tuesday.
Notes
Boudreau is 100-45-19. …
The Capitals recalled C Jay Beagle and G Michal Neuvirth from Hershey
(AHL). Beagle replaced Semin in the lineup, and Neuvirth served as
Varlamov’s backup. Beagle earned an assist on Bradley’s goal. … The
Rangers, who beat Ottawa on Saturday, have not won consecutive games
since a seven-game victory streak ended in mid-October. They are 4-8-1
since.