On Sunday afternoon in New York, Matt Lempe scored a scoreless game-tying goal 4:17 into the middle, giving the Rangers a 1-0 lead over the Washington Capitals.
It was Lempe's first career goal in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
“I'll always remember it. It was awesome,” Rempe said. “It didn't have much effect, but then I heard the crowd. It was a dream come true. It was unreal. … I know my game. I can skate well and , I know he's got the stamina. I think he's built for the playoffs. … I was happy with how things went tonight.”
The Rangers added two more goals in a span of 126 seconds to take a 3-0 lead en route to a 4-1 victory over the Caps in Game 1 of their Stanley Cup Playoffs first round series.
Rempe received a pass from Jimmy Vesey and set up the ball in front of goal. Fellow fourth-rower Barclay Goodrow added his second assist on this play. He recorded two assists in the win.
“I think every game he was in the lineup, he had an impact on the game,” Vesey said of Rempe. “I think it was fun playing with him. He shows up for the team every night and it's great to see him score a goal. Obviously it was a big goal in this game, but he… His expression was also very cool.”
The second goal came at 4:50 of the period when Alexis Lafreniere made a takeaway along the left boards in the defensive zone, sending the puck to Vincent Trocheck, who quickly tipped it to Artemi Panarin. He scored and took a 2-0 lead.
Vesey ended the outburst with a wrist shot to the face and a goal from the edge of the right circle at 6:23 for a 3-0 lead.
“They've been good to us all year, and for them to play well like they did tonight and score some goals for us was great,” Rangers' Jacob Trueba said. It was huge,” he said. “I think we have really good depth throughout the lineup and each line can score, defend and play solid hockey. I don't think anyone here is surprised by that because that's the strength of our team. Masu.”
Igor Shesterkin made 20 saves in the win.
Game 2 is scheduled for Tuesday in New York.
“The first period was okay,” Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin said. “In the second period, we made some mistakes and we were able to score, but we all understand that this is a playoff game. Just forget it and move on.”
Martin Fehevary was the Capitals' only striker. His goal 7:30 into the second period halted the Rangers' run and cut the lead to 3-1.
The Rangers held the Caps to just six shots on goal in the third period.
“When everyone's like that, it makes the game a lot easier,” New York's Quandre Miller said. “We kept our foot on the pedal all night and hit their defensemen pretty hard, but I don't think we could give them much.”
In the third period, Jack Roslovic picked up an errant puck in the defensive zone and tapped it to Mika Zibanejad, who found Chris Kreider streaking at center ice. His pass hit Kreider with force, and he made an uncontested backhand shot for a final score of 4-1.
“They obviously have very good special teams, and being able to shut them out on penalties was a big boost for us,” Carlson said. “We had a lot of chances to get it through kills and power plays, but you never know what can happen with the wind in your head.”
Charlie Lindgren made 27 saves in the loss.
“They're opportunistic. They're a good team,” said Capitals' John Carlson. “We know they can kill chances. We know we can't give them 2-on-1 or anything like that in the middle of the ice. It's not something we didn't expect, it's something we didn't talk about. But I think we have a chance to play better and just rebuild the team and keep our heads down and get back to work as usual.”
