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WASHINGTON (AP) -- The New York Rangers offense didn't have much
trouble solving the Washington Capitals' defense.
Four Rangers scored and 10 New York players had points for an
increasingly diverse scoring machine in Thursday night's 5-3
victory, the sixth consecutive game in which the Rangers scored at
least four goals.
|  | | After losing his stick, Brad Brown tries to stop Washington's Richard Zednik in a less conventional way. |
"Everybody's been taking turns," said Theo Fleury, who scored
twice. "It was (Petr) Nedved's line the other night, it was our
line tonight, and (Mark) Messier's line the other nights. We're
really kind of spreading it around quite a bit. It's been fun."
Fleury's 12th goal of the season on a power play late in the
second period put the Rangers ahead for good, and he added his
team-high 13th with an empty-net goal in the final minute. Valeri
Kamensky, Michael York and Jan Hlavac also scored for the Rangers,
who have won five of six to move above .500 (8-7-0).
"This wasn't as much of a grind as I thought it would be,"
Rangers coach Ron Low said. "We got through the neutral zone. Keep
the tempo up and keep the legs moving. It's nice to watch from the
bench."
Chris Simon, Peter Bondra and Andrei Nikolishin scored for the
Capitals, who remain atop the Southeast Division even though they
have lost three of four and are five games below .500.
For the first time this season, Washington lost after scoring
first, and only several point-blank saves by Olaf Kolzig kept it
from being worse.
"We want to play low-scoring games," defenseman Sylvain Cote
said. "This team has won the last couple of years strictly on good
defense. Once you give away too many 2-on-1's and 3-on-2's, Olie
will do 10 stops, but 11 and 12 may go in. We've got to play better
in front of him."
The Capitals led 2-1 after the first period, with Rangers goalie
Mike Richter also keeping a busy slate. He stopped three
consecutive close-range shots from Adam Oates, Ulf Dahlen and Simon
for three of his 27 saves.
The first goal came after another close-range save by Richter on
Simon on a power play, but Simon was able to backhand the rebound
at 12:03 to give the Capitals the lead. It was first goal of the
season for Simon, who missed the first nine games because of a
holdout after leading the team with 29 goals last season.
Kamensky tied it at 15:47 with his fifth goal, a clean slap shot
over Kolzig's right shoulder off a feed from Messier.
Bondra, selected as Capitals player of the month, needed only
six seconds to put Washington back ahead. Bondra, who wants to be
traded, picked off a lazy pass from Sylvain Lefebvre after the
faceoff and skated unchecked for the breakaway goal.
York tied it again at 2:04 of the second. Sprung by Eric Lacroix
for a 2-on-1, York unloaded from the left circle. Kolzig got a
piece of the shot, but the puck trickled in.
Nedved later failed to get a shot off on a 2-on-0 short-handed
breakaway, but a 5-on-3 power play gave the Rangers the lead. Three
seconds after the advantage expired, Fleury scored on a slap shot
at 18:12 as Kolzig appeared to be screened.
A nice cross-ice assist from Radek Dvorak set up Hlavac's
insurance goal 1:39 into the final period.
Nikolishin cut the deficit to one by poking in a loose puck in
front of the goal with 4:31 remaining.
The Capitals had a power play for the last 1:24, but Fleury's
empty-netter with 28 seconds left ended any hope.
"There was a lot of excitement and some scoring chances,"
Washington coach Ron Wilson said. "But with a team like the
Rangers, if you make some mental mistakes defensively, they're
going to put the puck in the net."
Game notes
First the first time in 16 years, the team representing the
nation's capital lost its first game after a presidential election.
Washington won its first post-election games in 1988, 1992 and
1996. It was also the Rangers that last did the damage, beating the
Capitals the day after Ronald Reagan won a second term in 1984. ...
York has four goals in his five games against Washington. ... The
Capitals have allowed four or more goals six times this season.
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NHL Scoreboard
NY Rangers Clubhouse
Washington Clubhouse
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NY Rangers 5
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