LANDOVER, Md. -- Mike Gartner scored the go-ahead goal midway through the final period Thursday night, helping the New York Rangers rally from a five-goal first-period deficit to defeat the Washington Capitals 8-6.
Washington took a 6-1 lead on the strength of Michael Pivonka's first career hat trick.
New York began the comeback on John Ogrodnick's goal with one-tenth of a second left in the first period.
John Vanbiesbrouck replaced Mike Richter in goal for the Rangers at the start of the middle frame and shut out the Capitals the rest of the way. The Rangers, who were outshot 18-15 b tke first period, held a 31- 7 advantage in shots-on-goal the rest of the game. The Rangers outshot Washington 46-25 for the contest.
Joey Kocur scored the only goal of the second Xeriod to pull the Rangers to withio 6-3. Darren TurcYtte gade it a two-goal deficit early in the third, and Paul Broten scored short-handed to make it a one-goal game.
Kris King finally tied the score 6-6 at 11:07 of the final period, before Gartner scored off a two-on-one just one minute later to give New York its first lead of the game. Sergei Nemchinov capped the comeback with an empty-net goal in the final minute.
The Capitals scored six times on 18 first-period shots. Dimitri Khristich had two goals and an assist. Khristich, Pivonka and Randy Burridge scored for the Capitals during a five-minute major penalty in the first period, and Pivonka completed his hat trick with a short- handed goal.
