Game 1 Ovi lifts Caps over Rangers in opener
Game 2 Capitals beat Rangers 1-0 in OT to take 2-0 series lead
Game 3 Rangers hold off Caps, cutting deficit to 2-1
Game 4 Rangers rebound after losing 2-goal lead, top Capitals 4-3
Game 5 Capitals beat Rangers 2-1 in OT, take 3-2 series lead
Game 6 Henrik Lundqvist makes 27 saves to lead Rangers to 1-0 win over Capitals, forcing a Game 7
Game 7 Rangers upset Capitals in Game 7, advance to 2nd round
How the Capitals win: When Washington is allowed to breathe on offense, it wins. In their first 11 games, the Caps averaged 2.27 goals. Then their offense exploded and their average leapt to 3.21. It’s no coincidence they became contenders again when their flashy attack started to work like it did three or four years ago.
Round 1: RANGERS vs CAPS (Series tied 3-3) Game 1 WSH 3 NY 1 *if necessary. All times Eastern |
How the Rangers win: The Rangers have to flip the switch come playoff time, just like the Los Angeles Kings did last year. Their scorers have to suddenly wake up, their defense must stay stingy and, most importantly, Henrik Lundqvist has to be all-world.
How the Capitals lose: With such a free-flowing offense, the defense is sometimes lacking. The Caps allow among the most shots per game. Braden Holtby faced 30 or more shots 26 times in 31 starts. Putting that kind of demand on a young goalie is unhealthy during a post-season run.
How the Rangers lose: Bet on Lundqvist being sensational, but wager at your own risk if you think the Rangers find their scoring touch. Last post-season, they allowed only 26 goals in 14 games, but scored just 29. Shot-blocking and stellar goaltending go only so far.
Capitals goaltending: Holtby more than held his own in the playoffs last spring after spending most of the year in the American League. This year, his GAA is high because he faces so many shots. These Caps take a much different approach to defense and net protection and Holtby has to adapt.
Rangers goaltending: Expect Lundqvist to be as good as he was in the 2012 playoffs. If he’s felled by injury, Martin Biron is a capable backup, but hasn’t handled full-time duty or played a playoff game since 2008-09.
Capitals question mark: Every playoff team, including Washington, beat down the Southeast Division all season. But the Caps were below .500 against the rest of the East. Can they hang with the big boys?
Rangers question mark: Last year, the Rangers went into the playoffs with one elite goal-scorer, Marian Gaborik, after he recorded 41 in the regular season. Nash was brought in to add another. Now the Rangers could be back where they started after shipping Gaborik to Columbus, leaving Nash as their sole sniper. He’ll need support from the team’s lesser lights and there’s no guarantee he gets it.
Capitals top three fantasy players: Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Mike Ribeiro
Rangers top three fantasy players: Rick Nash, Derek Stepan, Brad Richards
Odds to win the Cup: Capitals: 12-1, Rangers: 20-1
THE EDGE GOES TO… | |||||
TEAM | FORWARDS | DEFENSE | GOALTENDING | SPECIAL TEAMS | COACHING |
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| X | X |
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Winner and why: The Caps and Blueshirts were two of the hotter teams down the stretch and the franchises have grown familiar with each other, having faced off in three of the past four post-seasons. Washington has been carried by the white-hot play of star winger Alex Ovechkin, but he’ll be going up against a deep group of Rangers forwards and the usual top-shelf goaltending of Henrik Lundqvist. With good arguments to be made for either side, this looks to be a close series that will come down to who gets better goaltending. If that’s the case, we’re going with Lundqvist over the younger, less consistent Braden Holtby. Rangers in 7.
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