NEW YORK – The distinct sound of pucks hitting off the goalpost echoed throughout Madison Square Garden four times in the Washington Capitals 4-1 loss to the New York Rangers Wednesday night. One after the other, the ringing noise was accompanied with a sliver of hope yet simultaneous frustration for the Capitals, who were playing with a depleted lineup due to a slew of injuries and a three-game suspension for forward Garnet Hathaway.

As the final buzzer sounded in the big city, despite a brief potential for a Capitals’ comeback in the third period, Washington couldn’t overcome its shorthanded lineup. Finding itself in a three-goal deficit just four minutes into the third period, Evgeny Kuznetsov scored his 10th goal of the season at the 7:52 mark of the final frame, but Washington’s hole was too deep to overcome.

Despite the loss, the Capitals (16-4-4) still sit comfortably atop league standings with 36 points. The New York Islanders, Boston, St. Louis and Edmonton are all tied for second with 31 points.

After the Capitals’ hit three posts to no avail in the first period, Artemi Panarin’s power play snipe past goaltender Braden Holtby from the faceoff circle gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead 1:14 into the second period. Washington hit another post midway through the second on the Capitals’ first power play attempt of the night, but couldn’t convert.

The Rangers opened the final frame with two quick goals, Panarin scored his second power play goal of the night only 3:57 into the third period and 23 seconds later, Paul Buchnevich gave the Rangers a 3-0 lead before Kuznetsov’s tally. John Carlson’s recorded his 36th point of the season on Kuznetsov’s goal. He now has eight goals and 28 assists through 24 games.

Brett Howden scored a dagger with 6:26 left in the final frame.

The Capitals’ shorthanded lineup against the Rangers was because of multiple transactions Wednesday morning, with the team retroactively placed Carl Hagelin (upper body) on long-term injured reserve after he missed six games and put Nic Dowd (hand) on injured reserve. Nicklas Backstrom was also ruled out after it was announced he had an upper body injury and is day to day.