Matt Bradley scored his first two playoff goals and rookie goalie Simeon Varlamov posted his second shutout of the opening round as the Washington Capitals beat the New York Rangers 4-0 in game five on Friday night to avoid elimination.
The seventh-seeded Rangers, who benched Sean Avery, lead the best-of-seven series 3-2 heading to game six in New York today.
Alexander Semin also scored for No. 2 Washington and the Rangers pulled goalie Henrik Lundqvist after two periods, replacing him with Steve Valiquette.
PHOTO: AP
Perhaps the Rangers missed Avery, their only scratch on Friday. His benching came after he was called for two penalties in the final 10 minutes of New York’s 2-1 victory in game four on Wednesday. He also took four minor penalties and a misconduct in game three.
Knowing they need to win three consecutive games, Washington picked up some momentum on Friday from an unlikely source.
Bradley is a 30-year-old right wing who hadn’t recorded a goal in 21 previous postseason games.
Bradley ranked 17th on the Capitals in points during the regular season — behind Ovechkin and Semin and Mike Green, but also trailing some stay-at-home defensemen — with a total of five goals, only one over the final 42 games.
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