Rangers clip Capitals to grab commanding 3-0 first-round series lead

WASHINGTON — The Rangers finally got it. 

The always-coveted and always-elusive 3-0 lead in a playoff series that has evaded them for years officially belongs to the Blueshirts, who marched into our nation’s capital and took a 3-1 victory over a determined Washington team in Game 3 of the first round at Capital One Arena on Friday night. 

Showing the Capitals the first-round exit door that they walked through themselves just over a year ago, the Rangers need only to push the home team through on Sunday to complete their first postseason sweep in 17 years. 

“It’s big,” Barclay Goodrow said. “Obviously, it’s a best-of-seven series, you have to win four. The last one is always the hardest to get, so there will be no taking our foot off the gas. We’re going to have to up our game and bring it to another level to hopefully get another win.” 

This is what was expected of the 2024 Presidents’ Trophy winners, who were considered the heavy favorites against a Capitals team that snuck into the playoffs on the last day of the regular season. 

This is what the Rangers needed to do when they took the ice for Game 3 of the first round under the same circumstances a year ago against the Devils, as well as two years ago in the Eastern Conference Final against the Lightning. 

This is what the Rangers couldn’t do then that they proved they can do now. 

It was an important win for this series, but also an important win for how it pertains to the next series. 

The Hurricanes also took a 3-0 series lead over the Islanders on Thursday, which means Carolina could be finishing up Saturday afternoon and reap the benefits of some rest between rounds. 

The Rangers, who have stayed one step ahead of Carolina all season long, will want to continue to do so and do the same. 

Washington pushed the pace to start and struck first just over 5 ¹/₂ minutes into the first period, when defenseman John Carlson found a clear lane from long range to take a 1-0 lead for the second straight game. 

It lasted all of 34 seconds. 

Immediately setting up in the offensive zone, the Rangers whipped the puck around before Chris Kreider tipped a Mika Zibanejad shot past Capitals goalie Charlie Lindgren for the 1-1 score. 

Despite the fact the Capitals generated significant possession time through the opening 20 minutes, their efforts to double their lead were in vain. Not even three power-play opportunities helped.

In fact, they only hurt. 

With Ryan Lindgren in the box for cross checking, Goodrow gave the Rangers their first lead of the night when he buried the puck on a two-on-one shorthanded rush with Vincent Trocheck. 

“Troch made a great pass,” Goodrow said. “Just trying to get it far side, thought maybe he’d overslide and luckily it found a way in.” 

It counted as the Rangers’ second shorthanded tally of the series, as their special teams continue to dominate on a game-to-game basis. 

While the penalty kill fended off all six of the Capitals power plays, the Rangers’ power play netted a dagger toward the end of the second period.

Just 31 seconds after gaining the man-advantage, Zibanejad fed Trocheck in the slot for the 3-1 lead. 

“It still remains tight out here,” head coach Peter Laviolette said. “It seems to be tight both ways, from a five-on-five standpoint. It seems to be a lot of specialty teams. Those are the trends that have kind of shown itself through the first three games is that power play’s got to be on point, penalty kill’s got to be on point and you got to really work hard at five-on-five to generate chances.”