The ice at Madison Square Garden will be the site for Tuesday's marquee NHL contest between the New York Rangers and the visitin Washington Capitals.
The Southeast Division-leading Washington Capitals take their high-powered offense into New York for Tuesday night’s nationally televised meeting with the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. The Capitals lead the league with 75 goals in their first 20 games.
The Capitals began this quick two-game road trip Saturday by dropping a 5-2 decision at New Jersey as $1.25 road underdogs. It was the third consecutive time the Capitals had lost to the Devils this season.
The setback snapped Washington’s four-game winning streak and also ended a four-game run where the club had had scored three goals or more.
Washington’s other streak is still alive, though, as the club has now scored at least one power play goal in each of its last five games and in nine of its last 10 contests.
The combined seven goals leaped ‘over’ the 5 ½-goal closing total, leaving the ‘over’ 10-9-1 in Washington’s first 20 outings.
Jose Theodore, the Caps' veteran netminder, yielded five goals on the first 18 shots New Jersey fired at him. After a great start to the season, Theodore has stopped just 125 of 147 shots in his past six outings for an .850 save percentage.
The Rangers stopped a short two-game losing skid Saturday by nipping the Ottawa Senators in a shootout as $1.15 road underdogs, 2-1. The combined three goals ducked ‘under’ the 5 ½-goal closing total, which enabled the ‘under’ to go 6-2 in the Rangers’ last eight outings.
Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau scored the deciding goal in the seventh round of the shootout to give New York the victory. Parenteau, who missed a shot at an open net late in regulation, put a shot into the top right corner on the Rangers' seventh attempt against Brian Elliott.
Henrik Lundqvist made 35 saves in his second straight start after missing two games because of a lower body injury. That included stopping five Ottawa shooters, including Milan Michalek on the Senators' seventh and final attempt during the shootout.
The win lifted Lundqvist’s record to 9-6-1-0 in his 17 starts. He has a 2.51 GAA and a .918 save percentage.
This will be the first game on a three-game homestand for the Rangers, who are 6-3-0-0 in their first nine contests at Madison Square Garden this season. The Rangers are outscoring the opposition in their first 20 overall outings, 61-54.
New York and Washington have met once this season (Oct. 8), with the Rangers registering a 4-3 victory as a $1.55 road underdog. The win gave the Rangers a 9-3 edge in their last 12 meetings against the Capitals.
Though the combined seven goals leaped ‘over’ the six-goal closing total, the ‘under’ is still 5-2 in the last seven series meetings.
Both teams had difficulty putting the puck in the net with the man advantage. The Rangers were 1-for-5 on the power play, while the Capitals were an anemic 1-for-9. The Rangers outshot the Capitals, 29-28.
Washington All-Star Alexander Ovechkin, who has missed the club's last few games with a shoulder injury, could return for this matchup against the Rangers.