WASHINGTON — The Rangers have endured a daily exercise of discussing Alex Ovechkin — specifically, how to neutralize him. It has all become a bit tiring, but then again, so have the Washington Capitals’ brutish forecheck and physical style, which wore down the Islanders in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs and secured a victory Monday against the Rangers.
The player who played most like Ovechkin for Washington — aside from the man himself — was Jay Beagle, a third-line center who dominated in the face-off dot, dispensed bruising hits and fired shot after shot at Henrik Lundqvist.