Caps Still Lost in the Garden

Rangers 2, Capitals 0

NEW YORK, Nov. 1 -- Three days after racking up a season-high seven goals in Toronto, the Washington Capitals failed to find the net even once at Madison Square Garden.

Of course, New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, a two-time Vezina Trophy finalist, had something do with that.

The 25-year-old Swede picked up his third shutout of the season against Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals, turning aside all 31 shots he faced to clinch a 2-0 victory and extend Washington's drought on Broadway to seven games, dating from 2004.

"We didn't capitalize in the first period," Capitals Coach Glen Hanlon said. "We were the better team in the first, but we got away from our game plan in the second period and that cost us a bit of momentum."

And the game-winning goal. Rangers center Chris Drury redirected a point shot by rookie defenseman Marc Staal at 6 minutes 45 seconds of the second to put the Rangers ahead 1-0.

Lundqvist made sure the score stayed that way with several key saves throughout the game. None, however, was bigger than the one he made on countryman and former teammate Michael Nylander late in the second period.

Capitals center Viktor Kozlov (team-high eight shots on goal) threaded a pass through the crease and onto the stick of Nylander, who had time to pick his spot and got off a quick shot. But Lundqvist was one step ahead, and smothered the attempt with an arm save.

"We have great chances in the first and third period," said Ovechkin, whose four-game multi-point streak was halted. "He play unbelievable tonight. He win the game for the Rangers."

In the third period, Brian Sutherby and John Erskine were sent off simultaneously for hooking and elbowing, respectively, resulting in a two-minute five-on-three.

But the Rangers needed only 33 seconds of the two-man advantage to put the game out of reach, with defenseman Michael Rozsival tapping in a cross-crease pass from Scott Gomez to put New York ahead 2-0.

Less than three minutes later, the Capitals were awarded a four-minute power play when Fedor Tyutin was sent off for hooking and slashing. But Lundqvist stood his ground and the players in front of him continued to block shots at a staggering rate. In fact, the Rangers were credited with 30 blocked shots while the Capitals' power play finished 0 for 4.

"Lundqvist played well, but give their defensemen and forwards some credit -- they did an unbelievable job blocking our shots," said Capitals goaltender Olie Kolzig, who was strong in the visitors' net, making 26 saves. "We maybe need to change our shooting angle, or maybe draw the forward over a bit and open the lane.

"But for the most part, I thought it was one of our better games."

Kolzig was knocked woozy in the first period when he collided with Drury. But the veteran shook off the effects of the hit and remained in the game. Afterward, he said he felt fine, adding that his "bell was rung a little bit."

The lack of offense was in sharp contrast to Monday's 7-1 thrashing of the Maple Leafs at Air Canada Centre, where every shot the Capitals took seemed to find the back of the net.

Not so much Thursday for the Capitals, who were again without Chris Clark, Alexander Semin and Tom Poti.

All three are expected to miss Friday's game against the Philadelphia Flyers at Verizon Center, Hanlon said.

Clark, whose ear was nearly severed Friday when he was struck by an Ovechkin slap shot, continued to experience dizziness on Thursday and opted not to skate in the pregame practice. He skated for about 20 minutes on Wednesday before leaving practice with similar symptoms.

"It's a head injury," Clark said in outside of the visitors' locker room at the Garden. "I'm kind of surprised that it's not worse than it was. I'm going to take my time."

Semin, meantime, also did not participate in the morning skate. The high-scoring winger hasn't been on the ice since tweaking his sprained right ankle Saturday in St. Louis.

Poti, the Capitals' ice-time leader, missed his fourth consecutive game with a strained groin muscle. He also didn't take the morning skate and has been ruled out for the Flyers game.

Though the trio accounted for 74 goals last season, Capitals winger Matt Pettinger refused to use the injury problems as an excuse for Thursday's offensive outage.

"Obviously we're missing some guys," he said. "But we proved the other night when we scored seven that we're capable of it with this lineup. We just didn't do it."