Rangers’ Adam Fox finds right scoring formula vs. Ryan Lindgren’s brother
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WASHINGTON — It was fitting that the only Ranger who could score on Charlie Lindgren, in the club’s two games against the Capitals goalie, was his brother’s defensive partner, Adam Fox.
Maybe Fox got the inside scoop from Ryan Lindgren. Maybe it was just Fox breaking out offensively.
Either way, the 25-year-old defenseman led all skaters with two goals in the Rangers’ 3-2 loss to the Capitals on Saturday afternoon at Capital One Arena.
It was goals No. 6 and No. 7 on the season for Fox, who has scored four times in the past four games.
“I don’t know if I ever felt like I lost [my offensive touch] in a sense,” Fox said after the Rangers fell to 25-13-2 on the season after dropping their fourth straight game. “I think sometimes the puck bounces go your way. I think today I tried to get that to Mika [Zibanejad] and it comes right back, put a puck on net and it goes in. Obviously, you see the end results of goals, assists, but I think, for me, just trying to play the same way.
“I think sometimes they come, sometimes they don’t. When you play good hockey, sometimes the puck just bounces for you.”
Charlie Lindgren, who stopped 25 of the 27 shots he saw Saturday afternoon, is still the only goalie to shut out the Rangers this season after he did so Dec. 9.
Fox notched the first goal of the game for the second time in as many contests, when the 2021 Norris Trophy-winner followed up on his blocked shot and buried the second one at the 13:23 mark of the first period.
To break a 1-1 tie in the second period, Fox blasted the puck from the top of the zone to regain the lead for the Rangers.
All in all, it was a mixed-bag performance for Fox, who was beat in some facet on both of the Capitals’ final two goals.
Saturday marked Fox’s 21st game back since he missed 19 straight on long-term injured reserve with a lower-body injury, which he sustained in a leg-on-leg collision with Carolina forward Sebastian Aho.
The Jericho, New York native, however, is only just starting to look like himself again on the offensive side of the puck.
Jonathan Quick stopped 18 of the 21 shots he faced in the Rangers’ loss on Saturday, which marked his 14th start of the season.
Anton Blidh, who was called up at the end of the day on Friday, made his season debut and competed for the Rangers for the first time.
The Rangers recalled Blidh as a precautionary move with Zibanejad’s availability up in the air due to his lingering sickness.
Zibanejad ultimately played, but so did Blidh, who replaced Jake Leschyshyn in the Rangers lineup. Without Leschyshyn, Nick Bonino moved back in the middle of the fourth line between Blidh and Jonny Brodzinski.
Leschyshyn was reassigned to AHL Hartford after the game.
The Rangers acquired Blidh in March 2023 in a trade with the Avalanche that sent Swedish forward Gustav Rydahl to Colorado.
Kaapo Kakko, who accompanied the Rangers on this two-game road trip, did not suit up on Saturday.
Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette declined to say whether Kakko would be available for the club’s rematch against the Capitals on Sunday at Madison Square Garden.
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