The New York Rangers can celebrate Christmas with a little extra enthusiasm after a five-goal third period carried them to a 7-3 victory over the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena on Tuesday night.
Goals by Taylor Raddysh and Alexis Lafreniere 68 seconds apart turned one-goal deficit into a 4-3 lead. Vincent Trocheck then sandwiched two goals around an empty-netter by Artemi Panarin to ensure that the flight back home would be a happy trip for a team that finished a stretch of seven games in 11 days with a 4-3-0 record, with three of the wins coming in the final four games.
The Capitals scored three times in the second period and led 3-2 after 40 minutes. They were 16-0-0 when entering the third period with a lead and had outshot the Rangers 21-10 to that point. But Raddysh’s backhand chip hit a defenseman and went past Logan Thompson at 8:10 to tie the game.
“We needed to reset after the second period,” said forward Jonny Brodzinski, one of seven Rangers with multiple points.
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Lafreniere put the Rangers ahead at 9:18 by deflecting Panarin’s shot past Thompson. The Blueshirts owned the rest of the night, pushing the tempo and not allowing the Capitals any good scoring chances. Trocheck made it 5-3 at 13:43, Panarin hit the empty net with 2:16 remaining and Trocheck scored again 25 seconds later.
It was the Rangers’ fifth third-period comeback victory this season, tying them for third in the NHL — as well as the first time since Feb. 22, 1972 (at Montreal) that they trailed heading into the third period and won by at least four goals.
New York enters the three-day Christmas break at 19-16-4, including 14-6-1 on the road. The Rangers are off until Saturday, when they visit the New York Islanders.
The Capitals dominated the early going, holding the Rangers without a shot on goal until just after the nine-minute mark. The Blueshirts finally forced Thompson to make a couple of saves during a four-minute power play after Ryan Leonard drew a double minor for high-sticking Brodzinski.
The Rangers got on the board first at 14:57 after a perfectly managed 3-on-2 rush. Brodzinski carried down right wing and fed a perfect pass through the seam to Raddysh, who slammed it past Thompson for his sixth goal of the season and first in 23 games. The Blueshirts held the Caps without a shot on goal for the final 9:01 of the period and skated off with a 1-0 lead.
That lead lasted just 23 seconds into the second period. John Carlson tied it by coming late into the play, taking a pass from Aliaksei Protas and beating Igor Shesterkin from inside the right circle high to the far side.
The Rangers killed off a slashing penalty to Matthew Robertson at 3:57, but they weren’t as fortunate when Carson Soucy was called for holding at 8:29. The Caps controlled the draw and forced Shesterkin to make a superb save on Conor McMichael at the left post. It appeared he’d made an even better stop against Dylan Strome on the rebound, but a video review showed the puck was indeed in his glove – but over the goal line, giving Washington a 2-1 lead.
Will Cuylle got the Rangers even at 11:14, finishing off a superb passing play with Trocheck and Mika Zibanejad for a power-play goal. But Washington went back in front 57 seconds later. Sonny Milano took a shot that hit Shesterkin’s pads and came right to Protas, who buried the rebound for a 3-2 lead.
The Rangers failed to score on an early third-period power play, but Raddysh’s tying goal lit a spark that carried them the rest of the way
“Once we got the goal that made it 3-3, they were back on their heels a little bit,” Brodzinski said.
Key takeaways after Rangers use five-goal third period to beat Capitals 7-3
Resilience yields another win
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Just as they did Saturday, when they rebounded to beat the Philadelphia Flyers 5-4 in a shootout after allowing four second-period goals, the Rangers showed the kind of resilience needed to win. The five-goal third period was their highest-scoring 20 minutes of the season.
It would have been easy to pack it in after the second period, especially at the end of a jam-packed 11 days and with the Christmas break 20 minutes away. Instead, they regrouped and filled the net.
Even more impressive was that they did it without their best defenseman, Adam Fox, who’s been on long-term IR this month with a left-shoulder injury, and captain J.T. Miller, who missed his second game with an upper-body injury that landed him on injured reserve. They were also without assistant coach David Quinn, who’s battling the flu and didn’t make the trip.
“I’m proud of our guys, how they competed,” coach Mike Sullivan said.
Milestone night for Lafreniere
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Lafreniere’s goal was his eighth of the season and the 100th of his NHL career. The first player selected in the 2020 NHL Draft regressed in 2024-25 following a breakout season, and he’s struggled for much of this season.
Sullivan wants to see Lafreniere generate more offense.
“I thought Laf had a strong game,” he said. “He’s such a talented player. It’s been a struggle for him most recently to score. I thought he had a number of really good looks tonight. He was hanging onto pucks. He was also getting inside the dots and going to the net a little bit more.
“I think that’s got to be a more consistent element of his game. I think he’ll create more offense if he does. He’s very capable.”
A much-needed break
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Five games in seven days last week and seven in 11 days is a lot to ask of any team. The Rangers looked worn out on Sunday, when they were a step slow in a 2-1 loss to the Predators in Nashville – the fourth time this season they lost to a team at the bottom of the NHL standings.
But they wouldn’t let fatigue or anything else slow them down against the Capitals. Shesterkin kept them in the game in the second period with a handful of key saves before the offense came alive in the third.
“Down after two, and we come back and play a really big third like that,” Lafreniere said. “It’s really good for us right before break, just to have a big win like that.”
The Blueshirts will welcome the rest, because the schedule heats up right away after the break. Their first four games are on the road, with the Rangers heading to Carolina for a game Monday, back to Washington for a New Year’s Eve matinee and on to South Florida for the NHL Winter Classic against the Panthers on Jan. 2.
All four of those teams are ahead of the Rangers in the tightly packed Eastern Conference standings, and their 39 games played are more than anyone else in the East. The Blueshirts had better come back rested and ready to roll.
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