The New York Rangers needed a win desperately on Monday night after losing the first two games of the series while scoring just one goal, but the team came through and won Game 3 at home against the Washington Capitals to cut the series deficit to 2-1 with Game 4 coming on Wednesday night.
The Rangers got a clutch goal from Brian Boyle as well as a power play goal from Derek Brassard, breaking a streak of nearly two hours during the series when they didn't score a goal. Mats Zuccarello helped set up another goal and when the game was tied 3-3 the team got the winner from Derek Stepan, who appears to be heating up at the right time for the Rangers. Goalie Henrik Lundqvist played brilliantly at the end of Game 3 when the Rangers clinged to a 4-3 lead, as the Caps had a six on four advantage, but could tie up the game after going it at 1-1, 2-2 and 3-3 previously.
The Caps shutout the Rangers in Game 2 1-0 after an overtime goal from Mike Green and the Caps will be looking to take a 3-1 advantage on Wednesday night. Goalie Braden Holtby has been excellent for the Capitals and he will need another good performance on Wednesday after allowing the winning goal to Stepan with under seven minutes left in the third in Game 3. Rick Nash and Brad Richards will need to step up for the Rangers, who haven't been scoring much in the series, but had four goals in Game 3 after scoring just one in the previous two games.
The Rangers did a good job of stopping Alex Ovechkin in Game 3, holding him to zero points in 22 minutes, and they will need to continue that on Wednesday to keep the series at 2-2. The Rangers needed a win in Game 3 and one of the main reasons they got the winning goal was due to defenseman Ryan McDonagh, who was able to keep the puck alive in the Caps zone, setting up the puck to Mats Zuccarello, who was able to get the puck to Nash before Stepan deflected the winner into the net. The Rangers will need more clutch plays on Wednesday night and they will need to stroke early again to beat the Caps.
The power play has been a big factor in the series so far, with the Rangers going 0-for-7 in Game 2 before getting the Broussard goal in Game 3. The Caps were on the other end of the power play six different times in the game and they had just three advantages during the game on Monday. The team tried to get the tying goal at 4-4 in the third period after doing it three times previously in the game, but the six on four advantage didn't convert into a goal on Monday. The final penalty came on a high stick from Brad Richards on Ovechkin, but the Caps could not convert the goal to force overtime.