Capitals Vs. Rangers, Game 4: Washington Takes Commanding 3-1 Series Lead With Double OT Win

The Capitals completed a massive comeback against the Rangers in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference Quarterfinals series on Wednesday night with a dramatic double overtime goal from Jason Chimera. And, in no great shock, the call of a double overtime game-winner on the ice is awesome, even if no one’s quite sure what’s going on at first:

Chimera’s goal was sort of a freak happening: he originally tried to fire a wrist shot on Henrik Lundqvist, had it blocked, and then got lucky while crashing the net when the Rangers couldn’t get the puck out of their end.

It was a wild and noisy start at the Garden. Yelling and chants of “Boudreau Sucks!” drowned out John Amarante’s traditional performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and those calls continued into the first period. The Rangers fans have come ready to yell tonight. You don’t ever want to challenge a bunch of hockey-mad New Yorkers, I think is the lesson to be learned here. The Washington fans have something to try and match in Game 5 Saturday.

The Capitals struck again quickly, in similar fashion to when the Rangers got their two tallies in seven seconds. On the next shift, Marcus Johansson came in and threw an errant pass across Brooks Laich. Laich eventually gathered the puck and threw it in front, where Johansson remarkably tipped it in past Lundqvist to make it 3-2. Two goals in 57 seconds for Washington, and Johansson’s first career Stanley Cup Playoff goal made it a game again. Rangers coach John Tortorella quickly called timeout.

The Washington Capitals played their worst period of hockey of this Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series, as the New York Rangers scored three goals in their attempt to tie this series at two games apiece. The Rangers lead the Capitals 3-0 after period two in Game 4.

The Capitals took another penalty to avoid a potential Ranger break-in when Mike Green took down Derek Stepan for tripping at 2:56. It could have very well been called a penalty shot, but the Rangers were given, or forced depending on how you view the Rangers power play, to take the man advantage. That ended up being in the “force” column, as the Rangers were again average at best in creating chances, and missed on the power play again.

The teams will reconvene at that arena, Madison Square Garden, tonight for Game 4 of this series. Washington leads the best-of-seven, two games to one.

The game gets under way at 7 p.m. ET. We’ll be live-updating here. In the meantime, check out Japers’ Rink and Blueshirt Banter for team-focused updates.