Michal Rozsival, left, and Scott Gomez of the Rangers celebrate a goal in a 4-3 triumph over the Capitals on Wednesday night. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press)

The New York Rangers nullified scoring machine Alexander Ovechkin and rediscovered their scoring touch just in time for their post-season opener on Wednesday night.

New York had the NHL's third-worst offence during the regular season, but Brandon Dubinsky scored with 8:17 remaining as the Rangers beat the Capitals 4-3 in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference quarter-final.

Markus Naslund stepped out of the penalty box in time to feed Dubinsky, who sidestepped a sprawling Jeff Schultz and beat Capitals netminder Jose Théodore at the near post for the decisive goal.

"We were just trying to get shots on net," Dubinsky said. "Obviously, they have a great team over there that's going to score goals, so we knew we're going to have to put a couple behind him to win the game."

Scott Gomez led the seventh-ranked Rangers with a goal and two assists.

Nik Antropov and Naslund had a goal and an assist apiece in support of netminder Henrik Lundqvist, who stopped 32 of 35 shots.

"I thought we were a nervous club," Rangers head coach John Tortorella said. "But we rebounded really well in the second period.

"We found a way to get our legs underneath us and just play a simple game. Big plays at big times."

Tomas Fleischmann, Viktor Kozlov and Alexander Semin replied for the second-seeded Capitals, and Théodore had 17 saves.

"Just wasn't good enough," Théodore said.

"There's times when you sit there, you need the save — and he didn't make the save when we needed it," Capitals head coach Bruce Boudreau noted.

Ovechkin, who topped all snipers in the league with 56 goals this season, was held to two assists, as was high-scoring rearguard Mike Green.

Ovechkin's regular-season output was so impressive that his 110 points were just seven fewer than New York's two leading scorers combined.

Moreover, Green led all NHL defencemen in goals (31) and points (73) in 68 games.

But backstopped by the brilliant Lundqvist, New York made the most of its offensive opportunities amid a sea of red-clad fans at Washington's Verizon Center.

"We took too many penalties," Tortorella said. "It's just too dangerous with that group they put out there.

"But I thought our penalty killers did everything they possibly could, especially at the end when he [Lundqvist] had two penalties to kill. Our power play is going to have to score for us to stay in there."

Scoreless opening period

Ovechkin tested Lundqvist six times as Washington outshot New York 14-4 in a scoreless first period, but the Rangers had the finest chance when forward Ryan Callahan fired a shot off the far post with five minutes left.

Moments later, Ovechkin deked defenceman Michal Rozsival and broke in alone on Lundqvist, who made the save.

Ovechkin assisted on Washington's power-play tally 6:40 into the second period, settling a return pass from Green with his left skate and snapping a low shot through traffic that Fleischmann tipped.

But the lead proved short-lived. Gomez replied 69 seconds later, bursting past a fallen Green and firing a wrist shot past Théodore.

Unseen by the officials, Rangers agitator Sean Avery had clipped Green's skate, causing him to stumble and opening up a free lane to the net for Gomez.

Exactly nine minutes later, Antropov scored for the first time in 22 playoff games, a power-play marker that put New York ahead 2-1.

Naslund then took a drop pass from a speeding Gomez and ripped a wrist shot behind a screened Théodore make it 3-1 at the 18:38 mark.

But Kozlov struck back for the Capitals before the period was out, converting Nicklas Backstrom's centring pass on an odd-man rush with 59 seconds remaining.

It was Kozlov's first-ever playoff goal.

Semin lifted in a loose puck at the left post during a scramble to knot it 1:42 into the third period.

This is the fifth playoff series between the Capitals and Rangers, with the teams splitting the first four.

Washington hosts Game 2 of the best-of-seven series on Saturday (1 p.m. ET).

With files from The Canadian Press