New York Rangers vs Washington Capitals Match Player Stats On Mar 20, 2021

Mika Zibanejad scored the tiebreaking goal with 2:32 remaining in the third period Saturday night as the visiting New York Rangers posted a 3-1 victory over the Washington Capitals, who saw their season-high seven-game winning streak ended.

The Rangers avenged Friday's 2-1 loss to the Capitals and improved to 3-1-1 in their last five games thanks to an outstanding defensive play and a finish by Zibanejad.

As the Capitals tried to clear the defensive zone, Zibanejad hounded Washington defenseman Brenden Dillon in the middle of the left faceoff circle. He gained possession of the puck, swept through the slot and lifted a shot over Capitals goaltender Ilya Samsonov's left shoulder.

Besides scoring his seventh goal of the season, Zibanejad had an assist on Pavel Buchnevich's first-period goal and made a defensive play to preserve the lead moments before Brett Howden scored an empty-net goal with 28 seconds left.

Keith Kinkaid made 28 saves for the Rangers, who blew a 1-0 lead in the final six-plus minutes on Friday. About a minute before Zibanejad scored the game-winner Saturday, Kinkaid kept the game tied with consecutive point-blank stops on Alex Ovechkin, who was unable to extend his goal-scoring streak to six games after scoring twice on Friday.

Defenseman John Carlson scored the lone goal for Washington, which lost for only the second time in their past 15 games (12-2-1).

Samsonov finished with 22 saves.

The Rangers took a 1-0 lead with under three minutes left in the first period and moments after Samsonov made a point-blank stop on Buchnevich's wrist shot.

The play started when Zibanejad won a faceoff from Evgeny Kuzenetsov in the left circle. He quickly passed the puck to defenseman Adam Fox, who moved along the left boards and made a cross-ice pass to Buchnevich, who tipped the puck into the net for his 11th goal.

The Capitals tied it after a prolonged shift when Carlson backhanded a rebound of Nicklas Backstrom's shot by Kinkaid after New York defenseman Jacob Trouba was unable to clear the puck.

--Field Level Media