Madison Square Garden has been the venue for some of the most historic boxing matches of all time. Tonight's first period between the Capitals and Rangers could rival them. New York leads Washington 2-1 after one period.
Both teams combined for 28 penalty minutes, punctuated by an unanticipated fight between Mike Green and Brandon Dubinsky.
Brian Boyle opened the scoring early in the first after cleaning up his own mess. After shooting wide over Michal Neuvirth, Dan Girardi kept the puck in and fed it back to Boyle, who backhanded it high over Neuvirth.
After matching roughing minors for Jason Chimera and Boyle, the Capitals went on a 4-on-3 power play after Erik Christensen tripped John Carlson. Brooks Laich would tie the score at 1 with a nice redirect at the doorstep of Henrick Lundqvist. The Capitals would get another power play opportunity immediately afterwards after the Rangers complained about the previous tripping call, but would not capitalize.
Boyle struck again after the Capitals committed two more penalties and faced a two-man disadvantage. As the first penalty expired, Karl Alzner whiffed on a clearing attempt, setting up Boyle perfectly for a quick shot in the slot.
The Capitals would have one more power play opportunity after Mike Sauer ran at Matt Hendricks in retaliation of a knee-to-knee collision with former Cap Steve Eminger, but did not score. Washington started the game with a 11-2 shot advantage, but only now lead the Rangers 14-11 in that department.