WASHINGTON – With all that was happening off the ice, it was difficult to pay attention to the game the Rangers were playing against the Washington Capitals Saturday afternoon. Patrick Kane reportedly left his Chicago teammates in San Jose and flew home, Vitali Kravtsov got traded to the Vancouver Canucks, and forward Jake Leschyshyn was placed on waivers, all things that suggest the pieces of a Kane-to-the-Rangers trade are falling into place.
And then, on the ice, against a Capitals team that threw in the towel on the season Thursday with its trade of defenseman Dmitry Orlov and forward Garnet Hathaway, the Rangers laid an egg, giving up four goals in a horrendous second period and losing, 6-3, to the Capitals, who snapped a six-game losing streak.
For the Rangers, the loss was their fourth straight — and third straight in regulation. And to make matters worse, the game wasn’t the only thing the Blueshirts lost. Defenseman Ryan Lindgren left the game midway through the first period with what the Rangers called an upper-body injury, after he was crunched into the boards by Washington forward T.J. Oshie.
