With one last stop on the road before the brief break for Christmas, the New York Rangers faced a divisional matchup as they took on the Washington Capitals. This would come as the second meeting of the year between the two as the Capitals beat the Rangers at the Garden in just the fourth game of the season 1-0. 

While the Rangers would still be without J.T. Miller, they received some reinforcements with Gabe Perreault and Matt Rempe returning to the lineup after both forwards missed the last game with an illness. Perreault would slot into the top six with Conor Sheary and Urho Vaakanainen drawing out of the lineup in their place. 

#NYR warmup lines and D pairs for their final game before the Christmas break (@ WSH):

Panarin-Zibanejad-Lafreniere
Perreault-Trocheck-Cuylle
Brodzinski-Laba-Raddysh
Othmann-Carrick-Rempe

Gavrikov-Schneider
Soucy-Borgen
Robertson-Morrow

Shesterkin
Quick

— Colin Stephenson (@ColinSNewsday) December 23, 2025

The Rangers would be short a coach as David Quinn would not be on the bench as he was now ruled out with an illness. Lastly, it would be a milestone night for Rangers defenseman Carson Soucy who suited up in his 400th career game this evening. 

Game no. 4️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ in the books for Souce! pic.twitter.com/Y5wBmrwKdb

— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) December 24, 2025
First Period

Less than 30 seconds into play, Martin Fehervary fumbled a too close for comfort pass from John Carlson which allowed for Alexis Lafrenière to come in on a breakaway. Lafrenière has to lead the league in posts hit at this point as his deke faked out Logan Thompson but the shot hit the pipe. 

I don’t even know pic.twitter.com/e7TctmXvlP

— Jonny Lazarus (@JLazzy23) December 24, 2025

That would come as the lone chance for the Rangers through the first eight minutes of play as they were being out-shot 5-0 through the first half of the period. With 12 minutes to go, the Rangers would get a golden opportunity to change that as Ryan Leonard got the stick up high on Jonny Brodzinski which gave the Rangers a four minute power play. 

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It took nearly half of the extended power play for the Rangers to generate a shot on goal and despite one flurry of chances on a lengthy push from the top unit, the Capitals were able to fight off the advantage with relative ease. Just two shots on goal for the Rangers 12 minutes into the game. 

With five minutes to go, a nice breakout led by Braden Schneider allowed him to enter the zone and dish the puck over to Brodzinski who fed Taylor Raddysh with a beautiful cross ice pass who was wide open at the door step to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead. 

Nice to see a #NYR player score against their former team for once instead of it being the other way around.

Nice play by Brodzinski, but this is all because of the drive and kick by Schneider pic.twitter.com/pSCDkzG6Dv

— Jonny Lazarus (@JLazzy23) December 24, 2025

The Capitals would find a post of their own as Aliaksei Protas hit the post from atop the blue paint but that would about do it for the period as the Rangers took that 1-0 lead into the first intermission. Overall, not a bad period from the Rangers despite the Lafrenière miss and the power play continuing to struggle. Shots after twenty were 6-4 in Washington’s favor as both sides were credited with three high danger chances. 

Second Period

It only took 23 seconds for the Capitals to tie the game up in the second period. A nice passing play brought all the Rangers players too close together in their own end and as John Carlson walked in from the blue line, his shot sailed right past everyone, including Igor Shesterkin, to make it a 1-1 game. 

About three minutes later, Ryan Leonard ended up on a breakaway which forced Matthew Robertson to take a slashing penalty. Sending Washington to their first power play of the night, the Rangers penalty killers went to work but Shesterkin was by far their top penalty killer as he came up with a number of key saves to keep the game tied. 

Not long after the teams returned to even strength, Soucy got tangled up with Nic Dowd  which earned him a holding penalty. This sent the Rangers back to the penalty kill and once again, it became the Igor Shesterkin show. Dylan Strome was set up for an east rebound goal but Shesterkin completely robbed him with the glove. Or so we thought.

Igor Shesterkin ROBS Dylan Strome.

Strome can’t believe it. pic.twitter.com/idjsa9auk5

— Jonny Lazarus (@JLazzy23) December 24, 2025

Upon review, the officials deemed that the puck had completely crossed the line. How they came to that conclusion on account of the fact that the puck was completely invisible inside the glove of Shesterkin and appeared completely parallel with the line is beyond me. Nonetheless, the Rangers were now trailing 2-1. 

🤨

i don’t really see how this is definitive enough to overturn the on ice call… but i am not an official, so who is to say pic.twitter.com/Mbv1XPSHsh

— Shayna (@shaynagoldman_) December 24, 2025

The angle that the league saw wouldn’t come out until the end of the period which does show the moment in which the puck crossed the line. 

Per the MSG broadcast, here is the league’s angle that showed the puck crossing the goal line. https://t.co/tCa3313day pic.twitter.com/8KjwSoqBE2

— Peter Baugh (@Peter_Baugh) December 24, 2025

Just over the midway point of the outing, Vincent Trocheck was tripped up by Connor McMichael which sent the Rangers back to the power play. Finally, the top unit would find a way to convert as Mika Zibanejad found Will Cuylle who was parked right in front of the net to redirect the shot-pass in, tying the game up 2-2. 

Cools taps it in 🫡 pic.twitter.com/03PvqNHnAD

— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) December 24, 2025

Of course just 63 seconds later, a too easy zone entry for the Capitals allowed for Sonny Milano to bank a shot off the pad of Shesterkin which set up Protas for an easy rebound to regain the lead 3-2. 

Things would quiet down for the rest of the period as the Rangers would trail 3-2 heading into the second intermission. Shots at the end of two were now 22-10 in Washington’s favor as the Rangers again faced a situation in which they needed to come from behind to find their way back in this one. 

Third Period

The Capitals came into this game 16-0 on the season when leading at the start of the third period which certainly did not come as a comforting stat from the Rangers’ perspective. Two and a half minutes in, Alex Ovechkin was called for a cross-checking penalty away from the play as he was heading for a line change. This came just moments after delivering a massive hit on Soucy in the Rangers end of the ice. It was another missed opportunity for the Rangers as they continued to pass the puck around, failing to generate anything of substance. 

With just under twelve minutes to go, the Rangers found a way to tie it. A strong zone entry from Noah Laba allowed for Cuylle to find Raddysh down low who threw the puck in the direction of the net. It looked as though it could have gone off Noah Laba or a defender in front but the goal would belong to Raddysh as the game was now tied 3-3. 

RADDY SNEAKS IT IN pic.twitter.com/4axfP0I4BA

— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) December 24, 2025

Just 68 seconds later, a strong shift from the Rangers top line maintained possession in the offensive zone and a shot through traffic from Artemi Panarin found the back of the net. Once again, it may have hit Lafrenière or another body on its way in but it came as a timely goal for the Rangers as they made it a 4-3 game. 

It definitely looks like Lafrenière tipped it. #NYR https://t.co/IYTAR8RfI2 pic.twitter.com/hBQ05JYRWP

— Snark Messier (@SnarkMessier) December 24, 2025

Upon review, the goal would belong to Lafrenière who finally snaps his goalscoring drought to secure his 100th career goal. 

With six and a half to go, an offensive zone draw won by Trocheck allowed for Brodzinski to throw the puck on net. Trocheck was right there to put the rebound home, extending the Rangers lead to 5-3.

Right place, right time for Trocheck. #NYR pic.twitter.com/pUP4mV3es6

— Snark Messier (@SnarkMessier) December 24, 2025

With just under four minutes to goal, the Capitals pulled Thompson for the extra attacker. After two minutes of keeping the puck out of harms way, Artemi Panarin would pick up the empty net goal after his line mates passed the puck around way too much for comfort. Huge stick taps to Noah Laba who blocked a rocket of a slap shot from Ovechkin after that initial face-off with the empty net.

Trocheck would pick up his second of the night shortly after as Cuylle dished it over, allowing him to flick a backhander past Thompson to seal the deal, 7-3.

That would do it in Washington as the Rangers head into the holidays on a high note, picking up a crucial pair of points to even up the season series with the Capitals. Finally shots on goal tally would be 32-21 in Washington’s favor. The Rangers will be back at it after the holiday as they head to Long Island Saturday night to take on the New York Islanders.

Merry Christmas and a happy holiday season everyone!