The Rangers' 4-3 victory Wednesday was not a game dominated by big-scoring stars.
Alex Ovechkin, who came into the game with 15 shots on goal, was smothered by defensemen Ryan McDonagh and Dan Girardi and held to just one shot. Rick Nash, who came in with 14 shots, was likewise stymied and held to two and played only 16 minutes 49 seconds.
Rather, it was a night for other forwards to shine. On the Rangers' side, Carl Hagelin had a goal, two assists and a game-high plus-3 mark. Ryan Callahan and Derek Stepan each took game honors with six shots on goal, and Callahan blocked a game-high seven shots.
Brian Boyle logged 23:29, more than any forward, including Ovechkin. He won 11 of 16 face-offs. And Derick Brassard, with two assists and wins on eight of nine faceoffs, wore the Broadway Hat.
All the Rangers forwards played in various combinations, right from the opening face-off. Coach John Tortorella explained why he shuffled his lines so frequently, and why he felt free to do so. It was necessitated by the loss of the fourth-line center Darroll Powe, a center who has not scored a goal or assist all season but whom Tortorella prizes because of his ability to take faceoffs. Powe sustained a suspected concussion early in Game 3. The Rangers got Ryane Clowe back from a suspected concussion Wednesday, but Clowe is a wing.
"With my lineup, without a center for the fourth line, I had to use in a lot of different situations Brassard and Brian Boyle," Tortorella said, pointing out that Brassard made a great pass to set up Girardi's power-play goal at the start of the third period that gave the Rangers the lead for good. "He's stepped in here to try and make a difference, and he's made some big plays for us, and I'm not afraid to put him in a lot of different situations."
On the Washington side, it was not a night for Ovechkin or Nicklas Backstrom, both of whom finished at minus-1. But Mathieu Perreault had two goals, one of them off a terrific rush by Joel Ward, who fooled Michael Del Zotto and Henrik Lundqvist on the play. Ward had two assists, and Perreault led the Capitals with five shots.
Ovechkin was left to answer questions about what went wrong.
"They just put the puck in our net and made it a physical game," he said. "We knew it was going to be like that, especially in that building."
So far in this series Ovechkin has a goal, an assist and a minus-1 mark — not bad, but far from dominating. On Wednesday he looked forward to Game 5, in which he will have a chance to redeem himself.
"We will go home and play in our place," he said. "Our fans and our building — that will be much better for us."
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