Washington's Alexander Semin, foreground, celebrates his second goal against New York in Monday's game. (Julie Jacobson/Associated Press)

Maybe Washington Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin should take in New York practices more often.

Led by strong play from Ovechkin and his linemates, the Capitals thoroughly trounced the hometown New York Rangers 4-0 on Monday in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference quarter-final matchup, cutting the Ranger lead in the series to 2-1.

"It was an important game, but it's over," said Ovechkin, who led the NHL with 56 regular-season goals. "It's done. It's history. And we have to battle next game."

Game 4 is set for Wednesday in New York.

The Caps' top line, consisting of Ovechkin, Alexander Semin and Nicklas Backstrom, combined for eight points and scored the first two Washington goals.

"We had some lucky goals," said Backstrom. "It's just one game. We have to regroup and come back Wednesday [in Game 4]. We worked harder and we had to fight for our lives."

And in only his second career playoff start, 20-year-old Capitals goaltender Simeon Varlamov nabbed his first shutout, stopping 33 New York shots and all but cementing the starting job for the rest of the playoffs.

"He's played in the finals of the Russian elite league, which to him is probably like our Stanley Cup," Caps head coach Bruce Boudreau said of Varlamov. "He's played in the world championship, and the fact that he doesn't understand a word we're saying probably really helps him."

Ovechkin caused a minor stir on Monday morning when he sat on the bench and watch the New York morning skate. He was escorted from the area by a Ranger official and drew the ire of New York head coach John Tortorella.

"They played very well defensively and I thought we stunk defensively," he said. "That was the key to the game. They defended very well in front of their net and we were chasing our tail all night long — spinning and watching the puck."

Fantastic debut

Varlamov hasn't allowed a goal in 113 minutes of playoff hockey. He took the starting job from veteran netminder José Théodore in Game 2 and only allowed one goal as his team lost 1-0 on Saturday.

Washington's Ovechkin-Semin-Backstrom line was dominant all night and put in a strong effort at both ends of the ice. It was common to see all three players helping out in the defensive end when the Rangers pressed the advantage.

Semin had two goals and an assist, Backstrom had three assists, and Ovechkin had two assists.

You could say New York super-pest Sean Avery did not have the best of nights. He took four penalties during the contest (including three in the second period) and was kicked out of the game after punching goalie Varlamov in the face with four minutes left in the third period.

Ranger goalie Henrik Lundqvist did his best to keep New York in the game, but he couldn't steal this one for his squad. Washington out-shot the Rangers 40-33.

"It felt like they had a little more power out there," Lundqvist said. "We had two great games on the road, but we knew it would be tougher to win this one."

Rangers still have edge

Even with the loss, New York has to feel good about its chances to close out the series, if history has any influence on the outcome. The Capitals have never won a playoff series after dropping the first two games, and the Rangers are 10-1 after going up 2-0.

Washington was 2-for-6 on the power play while New York was 0-for-6.

After watching the Rangers dictate the pace of play in the bulk of Games 1 and 2, the Capitals looked dedicated, upping the tempo.

And it worked early on, as the Caps were rewarded with the lead at 6:57 of the first period. Seconds after winger Semin missed a wide-open goal, he redeemed himself by one-timing a pass from Backstrom through goalie Henrik Lundqvist to put Washington up 1-0.

New York just missed tying the game when a Markus Naslund wrist shot rebounded out to winger Ryan Callahan, who had a wide open net staring him in the face but rang one off the post.

The miss would prove costly, as the Caps turned the puck up-ice and scored to make it 2-0, and again it was Washington's top line who came through.

Semin nabs second

Backstrom held off a couple Ranger defenders in the attacking zone and slid the puck over to Ovechkin, who passed it across to Semin while he was parked in the slot. The Russian sniper again put the puck through Lundqvist for his second of the game and third of the series at 11:36 of the first.

"It definitely changed the momentum," Callahan said. "At the same time, the game is not over in the first period. We had to be better after that."

The Capitals out-shot New York 14-11 in the first period.

Penalty trouble kept New York from any sustained momentum in the second, but Lundqvist did his best to keep his Rangers close as the Caps out-shot them 16-10. He stopped a Tomas Fleischmann breakaway halfway through the frame, but eventually, Washington scored to make it 3-0.

And again it was Semin who figured in on the goal. While on the man-advantage, he executed a perfect give-and-go passing play with Sergei Federov, and then took a shot on goal.

Lundqvist stopped it but couldn't keep the rebound out of the net as Brooks Laich slid it home for his first of the series at 11:29 of the second.

Best chance denied

Nikolai Zherdev had New York's best chance to score in the second frame, as he took a pass on a 2-on-1 and had a clear lane to the net, but couldn't put one through Caps goalie Varlamov.

The Russian was outstanding in the period as the Rangers turned up the heat around the Washington goal.

Avery led the parade to the Rangers penalty box in the second, as he was tagged with three of New York's five infractions in the period.

For Washington, it was simply a matter of managing the clock in the third.

But Caps goalie Varlamov had to make one last spectacular save with four minutes to go to cement his shutout. New York forward Markus Naslund had the Washington netminder moving the wrong way but Varlamov stuck his left pad out to deny the Swedish veteran.

With files from the Associated Press