It didn’t come easy. Two days later, the Rangers held off the Capitals in a hard fought game. They dug deep for a 4-3 win to take Game 2 at a loud Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night.

They now lead the best of seven series two games to none. The next two games shift to DC. The Rangers did their part by holding serve at home. Now, they’ll look to get a game at Washington. Game 3 is Friday night.

Unlike Game 1, this one was mostly about special teams. Aside from the game’s first two goals, the last five were all due to the power play and penalty kill.

The teams had a combined 11 power plays. The Rangers were a little better, going 2 for 6 while getting a big shorthanded goal late in the second period from K’Andre Miller. That proved to be the difference.

Trailing one game to none, the Capitals played with more desperation. They were more aggressive from the outset. Right away, they applied pressure on the Rangers. That led to them getting five of the game’s first seven shots.

Igor Shesterkin was sharp by making key stops on T.J. Oshie, Hendrix Lapierre, and Alexander Ovechkin. Ovechkin never registered another shot. He has been held in check. The Rangers have done a good job defensively at limiting Ovechkin. He only has one total shot in two games.

Sloppy play finally caught up when the Caps grabbed an early lead. After Oshie went around Miller, a good forecheck forced Ryan Lindgren into a turnover. Connor McMichael converted his first of the postseason to put the Caps up 1-0 at 5:09.

The physicality picked up after the goal. Ovechkin got a hit on Braden Schneider, and Oshie finished a check on Artemi Panarin. Will Cuylle stepped into Dylan McIlrath. Cuylle continued to play well offensively. He makes things happen on the third line.

Following an icing by the Capitals, Rangers coach Peter Laviolette sent out the top line. Vincent Trocheck won the offensive draw. Six seconds later, he tipped in an Erik Gustafsson shot to tie the score with 12:04 left.

It was a gritty goal by an honest player who plays playoff style hockey. Trocheck had a strong game. He had a goal, assist, and dominated on faceoffs by going 17 for 25. That earned him the game’s second star.

On what was a quiet night for Panarin, who was held without a shot, Trocheck provided some offense. He would later set up a power-play goal to put the Rangers ahead.

Halfway through the first period, some heavy Caps’ pressure forced Jacob Trouba to take down Tom Wilson in front. It was a good penalty because it prevented a scoring chance.

On the penalty kill, the aggressiveness of the Rangers created two shorthanded chances. Mika Zibanejad was stopped twice by Charlie Lindgren. They held the Caps without a shot on the power play.

Nicolas Aube-Kubel hooked down Trocheck to put the Rangers up a man. With the top unit unable to get much going, Alexis Lafreniere and Gustafsson came on. Lafreniere got the puck to Trocheck in the left circle. He then found an open Zibanejad on the right side for a shot that beat Lindgren for a power-play goal to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead with 5:32 remaining.

On a shift for the fourth line, Matt Rempe made his presence felt by getting a couple of hits on Ovechkin and John Carlson. He heard it from the crowd, which had more energy than the first game.

Panarin made a great move to draw a holding minor on Oshie. Oshie showed some frustration. He and Panarin were going back and forth during the game.

With the Rangers set up in the Caps’ zone, Chris Kreider took an ill-advised cross-checking minor in front of the net on Trevor van Riemsdyk. TVR helped sell it. Kreider didn’t like it. But it wasn’t a good penalty.

Before the first expired, Miller got a shot on Lindgren that he handled.

The second period saw the Capitals take advantage of a call on Rempe to draw even. During a shift, Rempe went to finish a check but caught Lucas Johansen just enough to go off for roughing. It was a penalty, but it feels like they’re gonna find a way to send Rempe off.

On the man-advantage, Washington was able to tie it up again. Max Pacioretty and Wilson combined to set up Dylan Strome for his first of the series at 4:14.

The next shift, Lafreniere forced Martin Fehervary to take him down behind the Caps’ net. It was another good night for Lafreniere. He also had two assists to help the Rangers’ cause.

It was the Caps who blanketed the Rangers on the power play. They only managed one shot with a Kreider tip-in denied by Lindgren.

With the game still tied, Shesterkin made a couple of key stops. For the game, he finished with 22 saves on 25 shots. However, he faced more traffic, which made some of the stops more difficult.

Another good shift from Trocheck led to him drawing a cross-checking minor on Carlson. Following some Lindgren saves on Zibanejad and Trocheck, Panarin had a shot blocked. Out came the second unit. They made the most of their time.

Lafreniere moved the puck up for Gustafsson. He then passed across for Roslovic, who fired a high rising shot that beat Lindgren short side inside the goalpost. That gave the Rangers a 3-2 lead with 7:34 left.

With over four minutes to go, Gustafsson took a delay of game minor that put the Caps on the power play. Instead of getting momentum from it, they turned the puck over, which led to a shorthanded goal.

On what was an outstanding defensive play, Zibanejad stole the puck in the neutral zone. He then passed it up for Kreider before getting it back. He waited until he found a trailing Miller for an easy shorthanded goal that made it 4-2 with 3:08 left.

The Rangers took the two-goal lead to the locker room. It was far from over.

In the third period, the Caps came hard. Hendrix Lapierre had a tricky tip-in stopped by Shesterkin. On the flip side, Kaapo Kakko had a shot denied by Lindgren. He finished a check on Martin Fehervary. He played a solid game with three shots and three hits.

With Washington continuing to press the attack, Jacob Trouba blocked a pair of shots. Rempe also had one drawing cheers.

The atmosphere at MSG was great. I hadn’t been to a game since Zibanejad’s five-goal performance before the pause four years ago. Our section had plenty of funny chants. Especially for Wes McCauley, who missed some calls. There were other fun-filled things being shouted. I can’t repeat them.

It was nice to see familiar faces again. I missed the environment. It was exactly why I love going. Watching the action from up top, it’s easy to follow the play. You can see things easier. If only McCauley knew what a clean hit was.

On what was an absolute heavy hit by Panarin on Oshie, he flattened him. The Caps forward was on the ice afterward. It drew an immediate response. McMichael went after Panarin, who had to wait for a video review to determine if the hit was a major penalty. I saw it live and knew that he had landed a clean shoulder that caught Oshie in the chest. There was nothing dirty about it.

When they came back quickly from watching the replay, it was obvious that they made a mistake. There was no penalty on the play. McMichael got one for roughing Panarin.

Unlike previous power plays, the Rangers wasted two minutes. The Capitals blocked a couple of shots. They did a good job to kill it off.

After getting checked out by concussion spotters, Oshie was able to return later. That was nice to see.

A Nic Dowd rough on Jimmy Vesey gave the Blueshirts another opportunity to put the game out of reach. Instead, Lindgren made a good stop on Kreider in front. Then, the Rangers made a bad line change that caused a bench minor.

During a four-on-four, Alex Wennberg made a mistake at the Caps’ blue line. His turnover allowed them to gain the Rangers’ zone and get set up. Carlson moved the puck for Lapierre, whose shot was tipped in by Wilson on the power play. That cut it to 4-3 with 8:15 left in the third period.

A strong effort from Cuylle led to a scoring chance that Lindgren swallowed up. It came down to the wire.

The Capitals pulled Lindgren with over two minutes remaining. Vesey took a shot at the empty net and iced the puck. The Rangers iced the puck once more.

Despite Strome controlling a faceoff, most of the Caps’ shots missed, including a Pacioretty backhand from in close.

Shesterkin only had to make one save in the final minute when he stopped Oshie on a tip-in. The Rangers took care of the rest by defending their net well. The puck remained behind the net as the final seconds ticked down.

It wasn’t an easy victory. There are no style points at this time of year. Maybe winning a hard fought one-goal game this early will benefit the Rangers. They had to earn it.