Lundqvist caught by surprise by Ovechkin as Rangers fall in OT

WASHINGTON — He should have known and he knows it.

Henrik Lundqvist, that is, after facing Alex Ovechkin for 13-plus seasons, five playoff series, 39 regular-season games and 33 postseason matches (not to mention international competition), should have known the game’s most prodigious shooter would, well, shoot the puck.

“It’s a lesson there,” the King said after the Rangers’ 4-3 overtime defeat to the Capitals Wednesday night, in which The Great Eight recorded a pair of power-play goals from his suite in the left circle. “I’ve played so many times against him, I should have known.”

Lundqvist, beaten ultimately by Matt Niskanen’s rebound goal at 2:18 of extra time, was referring to Ovechkin’s first goal of the game, at 3:32 of the second period, which gave the defending Stanley Cup champs a 2-1 lead after Mika Zibanejad and John Carlson had exchanged first-period goals. Alone in the circle, Ovechkin whipped Carlson’s wobbly feed past the netminder on the short side. When the puck evaded Lundqvist, the goaltender sank in despair in his crease.

“I didn’t expect him to shoot at all,” said Lundqvist, who has been beaten by Ovechkin 24 times in the regular-season and 13 times in the playoffs. “It looked like he was going to receive the pass. When I realized he’d shot, it was hard to recover. It was coming at [me]. I should have known.”

Ovechkin’s next one came on a screamer from the top of the circle at 17:01 to give his team a 3-2 lead just 4:19 after Jimmy Vesey had tucked one in with the man advantage. It made no difference whether or not Lundqvist knew that one was coming. It never seems to make a difference whether anyone on any team — even the cream of the crop — knows that the shot is coming. It may be the most undefendable single play in the history of hockey.

“We talked about it before the game, but it’s not just him,” Zibanejad said. “Obviously he has the best shot, but the guys around him, too. Maybe we made it a little too easy for [Nicklas] Backstrom and [Evgeny] Kuznetsov to get it to Carlson.

“It’s unfortunate because we knew what to look for and we had a plan to stop it, but we were not able to do it.”

The Rangers competed. They picked up a point after Chris Kreider’s artful redirection of Neal Pionk’s power-play drive at 10:25 of the third and batted hard not to forfeit it. This one allowed the Blueshirts to come away with an earned three points in 27 hours in the aftermath of Tuesday’s 3-2 OT victory at home against the Avalanche.

“It feels like we’re growing as a team,” said Lundqvist, who allowed more than two goals for the first time in his six starts. “I think we’re taking steps in the right direction. We’re a tougher team to play against. That’s mentality; about having a certain mindset.
“Each guy has to decide what kind of a player he wants to be. We need 20 to commit to being hard to play against.”

Pionk was a dervish, possessing, transporting and feeding the puck throughout a mighty impressive team-high 22:50 of ice in which the defenseman recorded three assists. Zibanejad had a strong night.

Kevin Hayes had his moments, good and bad, for the second straight night, sacrificing a shot from the slot to attempt to feed a winger on his left. Tuesday, it was Zuccarello late in the third period. In this one, it was Kreider one minute into OT. Each pass went awry.

Pavel Buchnevich, reinstated after sitting Tuesday as a scratch, was so-so in 10:30 that did not include a second of power-play time. Filip Chytil, who opened on left wing, finished the night as fourth-line center, getting two shifts for 2:34 in the third. He did not get off the bench for the final 12:11 of regulation plus the OT.

“I don’t think it’s positional. It’s mental,” coach David Quinn said. “He’s fighting it a little bit. Maybe back-to-back was a little too much for him. I think he’s [pressing] to score a goal and once, he does, the floodgates will open for him.”

The floodgates have not opened for the 2-4-1 Blueshirts, who have scored one five-on-five goal in each of their past three games and five in the past four contests. They’re searching for consistent production, just as Lundqvist was searching for an explanation of why he wasn’t ready for Ovechkin’s shot.

This marked Quinn’s first exposure as a head coach to the Washington power-play machine. He had an answer when asked how it felt to see it and Ovechkin up-close and personal.

“Sickening,” he said.