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Neuvirth blanks Rangers; Caps take 2-0 series lead

Apr 16, 2011 - 3:30 AM Washington, DC (Sports Network) - Michal Neuvirth made 22 saves for his first playoff shutout as Washington grabbed a 2-0 victory in Game 2 of its Eastern Conference quarterfinal series against the New York Rangers.

The Capitals needed overtime in Game 1 to win the contest, but were able to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series thanks to second period goals from Jason Chimera and Jason Arnott.

"These guys just want to win and they've said it all year," said Washington head coach Bruce Boudreau. "We've had a bunch of guys win individual awards, but that means nothing to them now. It's the success of what could happen is what they want."

The series now heads to the Big Apple for the next two games with Game 3 set for Sunday afternoon at Madison Square Garden.

Henrik Lundqvist turned aside 16-of-18 shots for the Rangers, who took three of four from the Capitals in the regular season.

"I thought for most of the game we played much better than the other night," said Rangers head coach John Tortorella. "But we got hurt by that surge from them and good teams do that."

After a scoreless first period that saw Neuvirth stop 13 shots and Lundqvist turn aside seven, the Caps took control of the game in the middle stanza.

The first goal came 2:11 in on Chimera's second career playoff goal. Brooks Laich had the puck behind the net and sent it to the left circle as he was being knocked down. From there, Marcus Johansson sent the puck to the slot where Chimera one-timed it home.

Less than two minutes later on the power play, Arnott scored off a wrister from the left circle after Matt Green's shot from the right circle was stopped by Lundqvist and the puck kicked over to the left.

Neuvirth needed to make just three saves in the second period and made his nicest stop of the game with about nine minutes left when he swallowed a wrist shot in the slot by Marian Gaborik.

Lundqvist kept his team in the game when, with 7 1/2 minutes to play, he stopped Alex Ovechkin on a clean breakaway.

However, the Rangers were unable to get anything going in the Caps end the rest of the game even when they pulled Lundqvist for an extra attacker and Washington skated out of the building with a strong series lead.

Game Notes

Washington went 25-8-8 at home this season while the Rangers were 24-16-1 on the road...This is the sixth playoff series between these two clubs and Washington has won three of those series...Washington was 1-for-3 on the power play while New York went 0-for-2.