This Date in Caps History - February 7

On February 7, 1992 Washington beat the New York Rangers 6-2 in front of a sellout crowd of 18,130 at USAir Arena.

New York's Mark Messier got the scoring started early in the first when he put the puck past Washington's Don Beaupre at the 19-second mark. Peter Bondra answered for the Capitals at 2:40 of the period with his 19th goal of the season. Kelly Miller scored against his former Ranger teammates - his 10th of the season - at 7:09 to give the Caps a 2-1 lead. Mike Lalor closed out the first period scoring with his fifth goal of the campaign. Each team fired nine shots netward in the first.

Washington outshot New York 11-4 in the second period, but neither team was able to score.

John Druce's 10th goal of the season came at 1:16 of the third, giving the Caps a 4-1 lead. Bondra scored his second of the game and 20th of the season at 14:02 to give Washington a 5-1 lead. It was the Capitals' fifth unanswered goal. Tony Amonte scored for New York at 17:12 to make it a three-goal game and Mike Ridley's empty-netter with three seconds left closed out the scoring and gave Washington the win. The Rangers outshot Washington 13-8 in the third but Washington held a 28-26 advantage for the game.

Michal Pivonka took first star honors with three assists. Bondra - who had two assists in addition to his two goals - was named the number two star. Druce was tabbed as the game's third star on the strength of a goal and an assist.