EAST -- 1st Rd. - WAS v NYR

Game	Date	Matchup/Result	Breakdown
1	Wed. April 15, 7pm et on TSN	Rangers 4, Capitals 3	Recap/Highlights \| Box
2	Sat. April 18, 12:30pm et on TSN	Rangers 1, Capitals 0	Recap/Highlights \| Box
3	Mon. April 20, 7pm et on TSN	Capitals 4, Rangers 0	Recap/Highlights \| Box
4	Wed. April 22, 7pm et on TSN	Capitals 1, Rangers 2	Recap/Highlights \| Box
5	Fri. April 24, 7pm et on TSN	Rangers 0, Capitals 4	Recap/Highlights \| Box
6	Sun. April 26, 1:30pm et on TSN	Capitals 5, Rangers 3	Recap/Highlights \| Box
7	Tue. April 28, 7pm et on TSN	Rangers 1, Capitals 2	Recap/Highlights \| Box
Capitals win series 4-3

WASHINGTON CAPITALS

Team Page | Roster | Stats

Regular Season Record: 50-24-8, 108 pts
Head-to-Head Record: 3-0-1
Last Stanley Cup Win: Never
Last Stanley Cup Final Appearance: 1998
Last Postseason Appearance: 2008
Players with Stanley Cup Rings: Sergei Fedorov (3)

A reason to cheer for the Capitals: If Alexander Ovechkin's energy and celebrations aren't enough to cheer for the Capitals, perhaps the play of Alexander Semin, Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Green can change your opinion. All four players have been at the forefront of the team's success this season, leading the Capitals to first in the Southeast Division for the second consecutive season.
What They Bring To The Table: Last season, Washington climbed from the bottom of the standings and into the playoffs - a success that has carried over to their current campaign. They passed the century mark in points for the first time since the 1999-2000 campaign and passed their record 107-point season in 1985-86. Signed as an unrestricted free last summer, goaltender Jose Theodore has played most of the season between the pipes, putting up a 2.87 GAA and a .900 save percentage. Up front, the goals start and end with Ovechkin. The 50-plus goal wonder ended the regular season as the league's top scorer with 56, becoming the league's first goal-scoring leader in consecutive seasons since Pavel Bure in 2000 and 2001. Offensive defenceman Mike Green has once again been a workhorse on the blue line, with 50-plus points for the second straight season and the best plus-minus among Washington defencemen. The Calgary native also set an NHL record for most single season goals by a defenceman (playing 70 games or fewer) to pass Bobby Orr's mark of 29. Green scored his 30th goal in 63 games.

NEW YORK RANGERS

Team Page | Roster | Stats

Regular Season Record: 43-30-9, 95 pts
Head-to-Head Record: 0-3-1
Last Stanley Cup Win: 1994
Last Stanley Cup Final Appearance: 1994
Last Postseason Appearance: 2008
Players with Stanley Cup Rings: Scott Gomez (2), Chris Drury (1)

A reason to cheer for the Rangers: As the Giants, Yankees and Broadway Blueshirts have shown in the past, there's nothing quite like a ticker tape parade in New York City. There are always high expectations on New York teams in the postseason, and they can even add a bit of swagger to any playoff campaign. And believe it or not, there are hockey fans out there who would love to see Sean Avery hoist that Cup.
What They Bring To The Table: On paper, the Rangers have as much fire power as any team in the league. But the offence has been mediocre at best with the team tied for second last in the league in total goals (tied with the Islanders and in front of the Avalanche). Since firing head coach Tom Renney and replacing him with John Tortorella in February, the Rangers' win-loss record went to 12-9. Not an impressive mark, but given that the club was coming off its tenth loss in 12 games, something had to be done. High profile free agent signings Chris Drury and Scott Gomez were producing at a sub-par rate earlier in the season, but have since turned their game around. The Rangers added Nik Antropov and Derek Morris at the trade deadline and also brought back No. 1 bad boy Sean Avery into the mix. Whether it's on the scoreboard or under his opponent's skin, he could be a big difference maker. In goal, there are few goaltenders in the league better than King Henrik.

Statistical keys to the series

- Washington ranked second in the league on the power play, with a 25.2% success rate. The Rangers ranked 29th at 13.9%.

- Washington ranked 17th in the league in penalty killing, with an 80.6% success rate. The Rangers ranked first at 87.8%.

- Alexander Ovechkin (243), Milan Jurcina (157) and John Erskine (128) are the Capitals' leading hitters.

- Ryan Callahan (265), Brandon Dubinsky (251) and Daniel Girardi (206) are the Rangers' leading hitters.

- David Steckel is the Capitals' top face-off man -- 57.9%.

- Brandon Dubinsky is the Rangers' top face-off man -- 53.6%.

- Washington's Alexander Ovechkin ranked first in the league with 56 goals.

- Washington's Nicklas Backstrom tied for third in the league with 66 assists. Alexander Ovechkin tied for tenth with 54 assists.

- Washington's Alexander Ovechkin ranked second in the league with 110 points. Nicklas Backstrom tied for ninth with 88 points.

- Washington's Alexander Ovechkin tied for second in the league with 19 power play goals. Mike Green ranked fourth with 18 power play goals.

- Washington's Alexander Ovechkin led the league with 46 power play points.

- Washington's Alexander Ovechkin led the league with 1.39 points per game.

- Washington's Alexander Ovechkin led the league with 107 giveaways.

- Washington's Alexander Ovechkin tied for third in the league with 10 game-winning goals.

- Washington's Alexander Ovechkin ranked first in the league with 528 shots on goal.

- Alexander Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom led the Capitals with five points in four games against the Rangers this year.

- Ryan Callahan led the Rangers with four points in four games against the Capitals this year.

- Washington's leaders in power play ice time (per game):
Alexander Ovechkin 5:24
Mike Green 5:22
Alexander Semin 4:00
Nicklas Backstrom 3:51
Sergei Fedorov 2:50
Brooks Laich 2:38

- New York Rangers' leaders in power play ice time (per game):
Scott Gomez 3:55
Wade Redden 3:37
Chris Drury 3:34
Michal Rozsival 3:26
Markus Naslund 3:17
Nikolai Zherdev 3:00

- Washington's leaders in penalty killing ice time (per game):
Tom Poti 4:22
David Steckel 3:48
Boyd Gordon 3:39
Jeff Schultz 3:18
Brooks Laich 2:57
Shaone Morrisonn 2:57

- New York Rangers' leaders in penalty killing ice time (per game):
Blair Betts 2:59
Marc Staal 2:56
Fredrik Sjostrom 2:42
Daniel Girardi 2:26
Chris Drury 2:25
Michal Rozsival 2:19

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