Capitals bite into New York lead in Big Apple

Washington Capitals' Alexander Ovechkin (L) and Alexander Semin celebrate after the Capitals defeated the New York Rangers in Game 3 of their NHL Eastern Conference quarterfinals playoff hockey series in New York, April 20, 2009.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Russian forward Alexander Semin scored two first-period goals and assisted on another to power the Washington Capitals to a 4-0 win over the New York Rangers on Monday, hauling them back into their playoff series.

Washington also got goals from Brooks Laich and former Rangers defenseman Tom Poti as they recovered from two home losses in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarter-final.

They peppered standout New York goalie Henrik Lundqvist with 40 shots to the Rangers' 33 in Madison Square Garden.

Rookie Russian goaltender Simeon Varlamov, who has played only six regular season games and replaced Jose Theodore for Game Two, kept his place in the starting lineup and registered his first shutout of the playoffs.

Playmaker Niklas Backstrom assisted on three of the goals and Alex Ovechkin, the National Hockey League's leading goalscorer, with 56 tallies in the regular season, had two assists.

The Rangers, who had the league's best penalty-killing record during the regular season, gave up two power-play goals.

TURNING POINT

Washington, seeded second in the East, came into New York needing to take the game to the seventh-seeded Rangers, who stunned them 4-3 in Game One and 1-0 on Saturday on their home ice.

They opted to increase their assault on the New York goal after registering 35 shots in each of the first two games and the onslaught paid off.

"It wasn't so much that they came out desperate but we were standing around watching, we were kind of hesitant," Rangers defenseman Marc Staal told reporters.

However, the turning point of the game came after Semin had scored the first goal.

The Rangers appeared to tie the score when Ryan Callahan beat Varlamov from out front but the puck hit the post and bounced out for the Capitals to launch a counter-attack.

Backstrom found Ovechkin, who quickly got the puck across the crease to Semin, who netted his third goal of the playoffs to give the Capitals a two-goal cushion.

Laich scored on a power-play in the second period after Semin's shot bounced off Lundqvist's pads and Poti made an unwelcome return to the Garden by scoring the fourth -- again with a man advantage -- with a minute left in the game.

Game Four is in New York on Wednesday.

(Editing by John O'Brien; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)