Capitals Locker Room: Eller Didn’t Know He Got ‘A,’ Kuemper Jokes About Goal Review

The Washington Capitals fougth hard for a big win in the Big Apple, and the effort paid off as they piled it on and dominated for a 4-0 victory over the New York Rangers. That win powered them up the standings to third in the tight Metropolitan Division.

Here's what the Capitals had to say about the "W" on Broadway.

READ MORE ON WHN: Takeaways From The Washington Capitals' 4-0 Win Over New York Rangers

Lars Eller

On what Washington did right against the Rangers and the Capitals work ethic: “We were playing on our toes. Try to take time and space away from them and be hard on eh forecheck. We’ve just been doing a good job the last month here with getting all five guys involved in the attack. The D, like Gus scores again, follows up and scores a goal almost from the crease. Sometimes it’s the forwards coming back and breaking up an odd-man rush. So we’re getting contributions from all five guys on the ice right now and that helps us win games and tilts the scale in our favor. I think we did a good job today.”

On if this was the team's best 60-minute effort of the season: “Yes and no. I don’t recall all of it, but it was definitely one of the best ones. Right up there.”

On what's going right over this stretch and five-game win streak: “We respect the game, we’re not trying to do too much. We stick to the plan and i think we have a team that can play different styles whatever’s presented we can play fast and physical and we have skill and we have all the things we need to adjust and then we just play. Talk about 5-on-5, we play good defense. like we don’t give up that much and all those games we won the scoring chances has been in our favor and most of the nights if you do that, then you’re gonna win.”

On serving as the alternate captain for the first time: “Yeah, I didn’t realize it until I was walking out to the warmup. Yeah no. Yeah I don’t know I suppose I’m one of the guys probably has the most games or right up there. It felt pretty natural. Didn't think too much about it. We have lots of guys out and everybody needs to contribute and i didn’t feel any different.”

Darcy Kuemper

On the penalty kill's success: “They’ve been doing a great job. Just a lot of pressure and trying to take away the time and plays they want to make. A unit like that, limit their skill a little bit and make them uncomfortable, it gives us a better chance.”

On the Rangers' goal review after stopping the puck at the goal line: “Uh, yeah it was under my pad. So I don’t know they probably just wanted to make sure. I was pretty sure it wasn’t in, so I was like, 'Why are they looking at this for so long?'"

On the hot streak and growing confidence for Washington: "I think we’ve been having a great December here. Just kind of building our game. With each win, you can see a little bit more confidence. With everyone on the same page, we’re having a lot of success.”