John Tortorella was right after all: the Rangers-Capitals series was indeed a lot closer than a lot of people thought.
That point was driven home with the Rangers' narrow 4-3 victory in Game 3 Monday night at Madison Square Garden. It could have gone either way, even after Derek Stepan scored the tie-breaking goal with 6:25 left in regulation.
Monday afternoon, Tortorella pushed back against critics who said the Rangers were being outplayed in the series' first two games at Washington, a 3-1 loss followed by a 1-0 overtime loss.
"I think they have been a lot more even than a lot of people think," Tortorella said of those games, and he suggested that reporters and others critical of the team were not watching closely enough. "You guys have your heads stuck in your computers, but I'm not just saying you guys."
Perhaps he was right. Game 2 could have been won by the Rangers had Rick Nash's shot against the goalpost with less than 4 minutes left been a couple inches more to the right. And Game 3 could have been won by the Capitals had one of their cross-ice passes on the game-concluding power play been directed toward the net.
One of the keys for the Rangers Monday was shutting down Alex Ovechkin, whose 22 minutes 7 seconds led the Capitals in ice time. Ovechkin tried 11 shots on the evening, but only two reached goalie Henrik Lundqvist. Five were blocked, and four missed the net.
Ovechkin did not get to try a shot during the final 1:54, when the Capitals had a six-on-four skating advantage with goalie Braden Holtby pulled for an extra attacker after the Rangers' Brad Richards was sent to the penalty box for slashing Ovechkin.
"I think we didn't find the shooting lanes, and we moved the puck too slow," Ovechkin said. "You don't have a lot of chances to play six on four. It's a totally different picture out there. Again, it's a situation where you have to find the shooting lane and shoot it, find the rebound and make the play."
None of which Ovechkin or the Capitals did. Nicklas Backstrom attempted the only two shots in that final power play. Dan Girardi blocked one of those attempts, and Ryan McDonagh blocked the other.
"Obviously we would like to score there," Backstrom said. "We've got to execute and get some shots through at least. We have to do a better job."
That sounds awfully similar to what the Rangers were saying after the first two games. Narrow losses, vows to do better next time, a sense that this series will have "a lot of back and forth," as Backstrom said.
Tortorella was right: this series was close.
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