Troy Brouwer scored for the Capitals in their 4-3 loss against the Rangers in Game 4 of their first-round series Wednesday night.

The Capitals had trouble generating any consistent offense through the first half of the game, but found themselves tied 2-2 by the end of the second thanks to a slick backhander from Brouwer, who now has 15 points in 61 playoff games. Mathieu Perreault had the team's first goal, taking advantage of Joel Ward's hard move to the net and banking in the rebound. Karl Alzner had the other goal for Washington. Ward ended up with two helpers. Alex Ovechkin was limited to one shot on goal and a minus-one rating. He also had two penalty minutes.

Troy Brouwer has notched 16 goals and 29 points in 41 games this season.

If this wasn't a truncated campaign due to the lockout then Brouwer would have been on pace to reach new career highs in goals and points. "I think this year more than any other year I've been the shooter on the line," he said. "Last year playing with Ovi a lot of the year he was the shooter. When I was in Chicago I with Kane and Toews a lot of the time and they were the shooters." Brouwer credits Mike Ribeiro with this new mindset because "Ribs tells me never to pass it back to him if I've got an opportunity." He's also getting plenty of power-play time and has generated 15 points under those circumstances this year.

Troy Brouwer scored a goal and added an assist in Washington's 5-3 win over the Sabres on Sunday.

Brouwer has been scoring at a career-best pace this season thanks to increased ice time on the power play. The Caps received contributions from a number of sources in this contest as Marcus Johansson and Mathieu Perreault also registered a goal and an assist in the win while Alex Ovechkin and Jason Chimera also found the back of the net.