The New York Rangers drew first blood in Game 6 vs. the Washington Capitals, with a trio of former Columbus Blue Jackets combining to give New York a 1-0 lead at the second intermission.
Capitals vs. Rangers Game 6 Update: Former Blue Jackets open scoring
The Blue Jackets alumni outscored the Capitals through two periods.
Paul Bereswill
Facing elimination and peppering Capitals goalie Braden Holtby with shots, the Rangers finally broke through with the benefit of a deflection by Capitals defenseman Steven Oleksy. The goal came off a shot by Derick Brassard, who had received the puck from John Moore. Both were acquired from Columbus this spring in the Marian Gaborik trade.
The goal was originally credited to fellow former Blue Jacket Rick Nash, but it pretty clearly went off Oleksy and did not hit Nash:
After the period, official scorers finally changed credit for the goal to Brassard.
Regardless, Nash’s presence in front of the net surely helped the play, so although it was taken away from him, he can hang his hat on that. Nash has yet to score in six games of this series.
There were no penalties in the period, and the Rangers continued to outshoot the Capitals, 10-7, in the second period and 22-15 overall. That’s not counting many more that were blocked or went wide. Basically, Holtby has kept the Capitals in the game.
Of note, Chris Kreider has played only four shifts for a total of 4:05 of ice time. Usually when a player is "buried" in a game like that by Rangers coach John Tortorella, he's unlikely to see much more ice in the third period.
The Rangers headed to the third period with a 1-0 lead, which could be enough to force Game 7 when Henrik Lundqvist is in goal.
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