Capitals pick up where they left off, beat Rangers for 5th straight win

Caps pick up where they left off, beat Rangers for 5th straight originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington

The Capitals opened the post-Christmas portion of their schedule with a 4-0 victory over the New York Rangers on Tuesday, leapfrogging their Metropolitan Division rivals in the standings as they won their sixth road game in a row to tie a franchise record.

After taking three days off for the holiday break, Washington tapped Darcy Kuemper to handle the crease against a Rangers team that had won eight of its last nine. He responded by blanking New York on 31 saves, killing five penalties and withstanding a pulled-goalie push for his third shutout of the season.

Both teams had plenty of rust to shake off Tuesday and it showed early in the first period. It wasn’t until the Rangers were whistled for two penalties 20 seconds apart that a 5-on-3 allowed the Capitals to break through in the 12th minute of the game. Marcus Johansson put the road team on the board with a scrappy goal up front.

That was the only tally for the two teams for the next 24 minutes as Kuemper and Rangers netminder Igor Shesterkin put up the brick walls. With John Carlson hitting Injured Reserve on Tuesday after a puck to the face sent him to the hospital last week, the Capitals were looking for their defenseman to take over a share of his scoring production and it was the red-hot Erik Gustafsson who obliged.

Riding a four-game point streak that included his first career hat trick, Gustafsson took advantage of a loose puck created by a 3-on-2 rush and scored to make it 2-0. The Rangers challenged that Conor Sheary interfered with Shesterkin’s ability to make the save but the tally was upheld by replay review.

Lars Eller then gave the Capitals some healthy separation with a highlight-reel goal off the curl-and-drag. Eller’s goal moved him past Nikolaj Ehlers for the second-most goals by a Danish player in NHL history at 362. The only player with more is Frans Nielsen, who retired with 473 after the 2020-21 season.

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With the win, the Capitals extended their active winning streak to five games as they moved to 20-13-4 on the season with 44 points toward the standings. They jumped past the Rangers for fourth place in the Metro and may end up in third by the end of the night if the Pittsburgh Penguins lose to the New York Islanders.

The Capitals will now head back to D.C. for a three-game homestand that begins Thursday against the Ottawa Senators. Each of their next eight games are against teams currently outside the NHL playoff picture.