Artemi Panarin scored the go-ahead goal in the third period and added an assist to lead the visiting New York Rangers to a 4-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday and complete the sweep in their Eastern Conference first-round series.
Kaapo Kakko, Vincent Trocheck and Jack Roslovic also scored for the Rangers, who are the first team to advance to the second round this postseason. Goaltender Igor Shesterkin made 22 saves and Mika Zibanejad collected a pair of assists for the Presidents’ Trophy winners as the regular season champs.
New York will face the winner of the series between the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Islanders, which the Hurricanes lead 3-1 with Game 5 set for Tuesday.
Martin Fehervary and Hendrix Lapierre replied for the Capitals, while goalie Charlie Lindgren stopped 19 shots.
Washington star captain Alex Ovechkin was held without a point in all four games. He played only 15:26 and did not register a shot on goal in the elimination game.
With the score tied at 2-2, Panarin’s power-play goal provided the Rangers their third lead of the game at 3:21 of the third period. Upon circling toward the slot from behind the net, Panarin took a feed from Zibanejad and found the mark for his second goal of the playoffs.
Roslovic’s empty-net goal with 51 seconds remaining in regulation iced the affair.
The Rangers swept an opponent in the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since 2007.
Kakko opened the scoring just 57 seconds into the clash with the game’s first shot. Nick Jensen, who returned from an injury suffered late in the regular season, lost the puck right to Kakko in the slot, and he immediately fired a shot home for his first goal of this year’s playoffs.
Fehervary tied the count at 14:54 with his second of the series, burying an offering after Dylan Strome created a turnover and three-way play to the marker.
Trocheck, with his third goal of the playoffs, again put the Rangers ahead with 15.6 seconds remaining in the opening frame. While on the power play, Trocheck neatly kicked a pass to his stick and lifted a top-shelf shot.
However, Lapierre again pulled the Capitals even with his first career playoff goal at 7:48 of the second period. Lapierre gained a step on a defender for a scoring chance and buried his own rebound.
–Field Level Media
