WASHINGTON, DC – i t’s impossible to overstate how much the Capitals fortunes hinge on superstar wing Alexander Ovechkin, who tallied 56 times in the regular season and came just three points shy of tying Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin for the NHL point-scoring championship. Ovechkin not only creates myriad scoring opportunities but provides a substantial physical presence on every shift. Woe to the hesitant opponent who finds himself one-on-one with the Russian dervish.
But Washington’s biggest weapon may be defenseman Mike Green, who notched 31 goals and 73 points in the first year of a four-year, $21 million contract extension. The offensive-minded blueliner quarterbacks a deadly power play and will place added pressure on the Rangers’ so-so defense, even in five-on-five situations.
The Capitals’ biggest liability may be in goal, where Jose Theodore went 32-17-5 with a 2.87 goals against average and a .900 save percentage. Theodore at times seems vulnerable in coach Bruce Boudreau’s pinching system and hasn’t exactly stolen a lot of games. Then again, he doesn’t have to with a talented crew that includes Nicklas Backstrom, Alexander Semin and veterans Sergei Fedorov and Slava Kozlov.
Washington won three of four meetings with the Rangers this season and earned a point in a 5-4 shootout loss in February.
New York Rangers (42-30-9, 93 points)
The Rangers transformed themselves in the final weeks of the season, dismissing head coach Tom Renney and replacing him with John Tortorella, who won a Stanley Cup in 2004 with Tampa Bay and who favors a high-risk system built around aggressive puck pursuit. The Rangers also added jam by bringing back controversial wing Sean Avery, and fortified their blueline and front lines by trading for Nik Antropov and Derek Morris. Antropov has six goals and 11 points since his trade from Toronto.
For all the newfound confidence, New York still relies most on its superstar goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who set a career high in wins, going 38-25-7 with a 2.43 goals against and .916 save percentage. The forward lines are led by Scott Gomez and Nikolai Zherdev, who both tallied 58 points, and by aging Markus Naslund, who lead the team with an unremarkable 24 goals.
The Rangers will have to find a way to shut down Washington’s skilled forwards and generate some timely goals to make this Amtrak series a lengthy one. One positive omen: the last time the teams met in the playoffs was 1994, when the Rangers went on to capture the Stanley Cup. And the Capitals got off to a slow start in their first-round playoff series against Philadelphia last year, falling behind, 3-1, before extending the series to overtime of game seven. Care to write for Pro Hockey News? Contact comment@prohockeynews.com Catch all the playoffs at Intotheboards.net
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