• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Morrisonn, Ovechkin rally Capitals past Rangers in OT

Dec 24, 2008 - 4:12 AM NEW YORK (Ticker) -- Defenseman Shaone Morrisonn scored his first goal of the season just 59 seconds into overtime as the Washington Capitals overcame a four-goal deficit to defeat the New York Rangers, 5-4, on Tuesday.

Alex Ovechkin netted a pair of goals and Tomas Fleischmann and Viktor Kozlov both tallied on the power play for the Capitals, who ended a seven-game losing streak at Madison Square Garden.

Nicklas Backstrom had three assists and rookie defenseman Sean Collins collected his first career point for Washington, which has won six of its last seven games.

"I think they just stopped playing hockey," Ovechkin said of the comeback. "They probably believed - 4-0, they're going to win the game."

"We just thought that we had a lot of chances in the first period," Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau added. "I thought we outchanced them. If we could get one, and start believing; that's all we kept thinking about in the room. If you believe, it can happen."

Ryan Callahan had two goals and captain Chris Drury had three assists for the Rangers, who have lost back-to-back contests.

"This is an important point that could get us home-ice advantage," Drury said. "I will try not to let this ruin my Christmas. There are 23 or 24 teams that would be dying to have our record and all of the points we have accumulated."

"You have to forget about it and let this one go, it is that bad of a loss," said Scott Gomez, who was celebrating his 29th birthday. "You have to throw it out right away."

The Capitals faced a 4-0 deficit after Callahan netted his 11th goal of the season on a breakaway at the 4:48 mark of the second period, deking goaltender Jose Theodore, who was pulled in the first but came back to start the next session.

Ovechkin started the comeback with 7:25 left in the middle period, firing a wrist shot that deflected off New York blue-liner Michal Rozsival's stick on over goaltender Henrik Lundqvist's shoulder.

"A lucky bounce. I was kind of tired and it was a lucky goal," said Ovechkin, who has 22 goals this season. "When you score a goal, you just wake up a little bit and you never know what's going to happen."

Fleischmann and Kozlov both scored against the Rangers' top-ranked penalty-killing unit in the third period to cut the deficit to 4-1. Ovechkin then capitalized on a turnover and beat Lundqvist on a breakaway with 7:22 remaining in regulation to tie the game.

"We knew this was going to be 2 1/2 hours of work tonight," New York coach Tom Renney said. "They have one of the best players (Ovechkin) in the their lineup and he's a heck of a leader."

In the extra session, former Ranger Michael Nylander delivered a drop back pass to Morrisonn, who unleashed a slap shot from the top of the right circle that sailed past Lundqvist to complete the comeback.

"It saw the puck and just blasted it through," Morrisonn said. "Guys got great character in here and we came back. We kept pushing."

Theodore finished with 21 saves and Brent Johnson made three in his limited playing time for Washington.

"I didn't feel like I was playing well," Theodore said. "I didn't feel like I was sharp. I just needed a couple of minutes to regroup."

Lundqvist turned aside 31 shots for New York.