RANGERS NIP CAPS IN DEFENSIVE STRUGGLE

The big concern following Washington’s game 1 loss to the NY Rangers centered on their goaltending.   Veteran Jose Theodore looked awful in the opening game, allowing four goals in the Caps 4-3 loss.   The problem was that the only other goalie at Caps’ coach Bruce Boudreau’s disposal was 20 year old rookie Simeon Varlamov, who had never played in the NHL’s postseason.  Boudreau rolled the dice and Varlamov got the start.  The good news?  The rookie made a phenomenal debut, allowing only one goal.  The bad news?  Rangers’ goalie Henrik Lundqvist played even better as he stopped all 35 Washington shots to backstop his team to a 1-0 game two victory and a commanding 2-0 lead in the series.

Ironically, the Capitals—maligned at times for their defense during the regular season—played exceptionally well in their own end limiting the Rangers to 24 shots on goal.  Their young goalie Varlamov did his part, but the team’s highly potent offense came up empty against his Rangers’ counterpart Lundqvist.  The only goal of the game came at 7:44 of the first period as New York’s Ryan Callahan lit the lamp assisted by Markus Naslund and Brandon Dubinsky.  With Lundqvist in unreal form, that single score was all they needed as the NHL’s scoring leader Alex Ovechkin wryly observed after the game:

"If you don't score, you lose the game."

After the game, Rangers’ captain Chris Drury said his team wasn’t looking to earn ‘style points’:

"We're not trying to be pretty. We just want to win. This time of year, that's all that matters."

The Caps got a decent number of shots on goal, but they were stopped by Lundqvist and the rebounds quickly scooped up by the Rangers’ heady defense.  New York's Scott Gomez gave props to his backliners in his postgame comments:

"They're going to make plays. They're going to get chances. But Lundqvist and the 'D' were outstanding again."

Added Ranger defenseman Wade Redden:

"Everyone's doing a great job sacrificing and trying to get in the way of pucks and not letting them get to Hank as much as we can. It's contagious -- you see other guys doing that, and you really try to do those little things that end up being big at the end of the night."

Caps’ defenseman Brian Pothier also praised the tenacious play of his New York counterparts:

"That's their thing. You get it by their first shot-blocker, and they somehow have three more guys standing in front looking to knock pucks down."

Caps’ coach Boudreau, meanwhile, stressed the importance of his team not losing hope:

"You tell the guys, 'Keep the faith.' One break in either game and we could be up 2-0. It's two pretty even teams playing their hearts out -- and right now they're up 2-0."

New York’s Madison Square Garden will host the next two games of the series, beginning with game three on Monday with game four slated for Wednesday night.