3 least impressive players from the New York Rangers 7-4 loss to the Washington Capitals feat. Adam Fox

The New York Rangers dropped a divisional matchup with the Washington Capitals 7-4 on Saturday at Capital One Arena. The Rangers fall to 17-20-1 and remain in a tie with the New York Islanders for last place in the Metropolitan Division at 35 points. Meanwhile, the Caps continue to roll at 26-10-3, good for 55 points, increasing their lead atop the division.

After snapping a four-game losing streak on Thursday’s 2-1 win over the Boston Bruins, the Rangers couldn’t keep the good times going. It was the team’s second game without superstar goaltender Igor Shesterkin, who was placed on IR with an upper-body injury on Tuesday.

Chris Kreider started things off by taking advantage of a major miscue by Caps goalie Logan Thompson to put the Rangers up 1-0. New York held the lead until Dylan Strome potted a rebound on the power play with just over a minute remaining in the frame. The game was tied 1-1 after the opening period.

It didn’t take long for Washington to grab the lead as Lars Eller tipped home a Martin Fehervary point shot 2:29 into the second. The Caps weren’t done there as Andrew Mangiapane extended the lead to 3-1 on a tic-tac-toe passing play. New York cut the deficit in half as Sam Carrick buried an Alex Ovechkin turnover making it 3-2. However, Washington then regained the two-goal lead on the power play courtesy of Connor McMichael. 4-2 Capitals after two periods.

It was a back-and-forth third period. After a quiet first half of the frame, Urho Vaakanainen sprung Filip Chytil for a breakaway tally to make it a one-goal game. Soon after, Alex Ovechkin made it 5-3 with his 872nd career goal, continuing his chase of Wayne Gretzky's all-time goal-scoring record. The teams exchanged goals from Mika Zibanejad and Aliaksei Protas within 56 seconds. Tom Wilson put home the empty-net goal to finish off the game, with the Capitals hanging on for a 7-4 win.

The Rangers won't have much time to dwell on the loss as they get right back on the horse on Sunday in Chicago against the Blackhawks. The puck drops at 3 p.m. EST.

Here are the three least impressive player performances from the Blueshirts' loss to the Caps.

3 least impressive players from the New York Rangers 7-4 loss to the Washington Capitals

#1. Adam Fox

Saturday afternoon was not kind to Adam Fox. The superstar defenseman finished with two shots on goal and a -3 rating in 27:34 of ice time. He was also on the ice for Dylan Strome's first-period power-play goal. Fox, who quarterbacks the Rangers' top power play unit, was part of an 0-for-4 performance from PP1. New York needs its number one D-man to be a difference maker.

#2. Artemi Panarin

It was another quiet game for the "Breadman." Panarin was held off the scoresheet with just four shots and a -1 rating in his 22:02 minutes. The Rangers' leading point producer was a non-factor against the Caps this afternoon. Having scored just once in his last 10 games, Panarin needs to start finding the back of the net.

#3. Jonathan Quick

The 38-year-old has been terrific during his time in the Big Apple. Unfortunately, he was not at his best on Saturday. Quick surrendered six goals on just 27 shots. With Igor Shesterkin on IR and their lack of goal-scoring, New York cannot afford many subpar games from Jonathan Quick.