The Rangers used the momentum from early power plays to cut the series lead to 2-1. (MSG)

The Washington Capitals dropped a game in their 2013 Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series against the New York Rangers on Monday night, falling 4-3 to the Rangers inside the World’s Most Famous Arena.  After taking an early lead on a Nicklas Backstrom, the Capitals allowed two goals before tying the game on a Mike Green tally.  After trading goals with New York in the first ten minutes of the third period, Derek Stepan broke the tie for good in close after Ryan McDonagh held the puck in at the line.  A late power play for the Capitals with 1:56 remaining failed to even produce a shot, and the Caps saw their advantage in the series cut in half.

The power play at the end of the game for Washington was brutal.  After biting so hard on Mike Ribeiro’s fake at the end of game two, did the Capitals really think that the Ranger penalty killers were going to give in to his jukes so easily with the game on the line?  I bet John Tortorella personally drilled in to each player’s head that Ribeiro doesn’t shoot on the power play.  But the Caps’s shifty center had the puck in a shooting position for a majority of the man advantage without pulling the trigger and his team paid for it, not even getting a shot on goal.  Yes, the shooting lanes were clogged, but you have to make something work in that situation and Alex Ovechkin, the team’s best power play weapon, floated unused at the left circle.  Inexcusable, especially with how great the power play has been this year.

Read on more more analysis here.

#3 Washington Capitals at #6 New York Rangers
Capitals Lead Series 2-0
Location: Madison Square Garden
Time: 7:30 PM
TV:  Local: CSN, National: NBCSN, Canada: TSN
Radio: 1500AM & 820AM
Previous Games:
Game 1, May 2 in Washington: 3-1 W
Game 2, May 4 in Washington, 1-0 W (OT)
Remaining Games:
Game 4, May 8 in New York, 7:30 PM
Game 5*, May 10 in Washington, 7:30 PM
Game 6*, May 12 in New York, TBD
Game 7*, May 13 in Washington, TBD
*If necessary
Familiar Faces of Former Capitals:  D Steve Eminger (212 GP, 2002-08)

Rangers in Danger! Read on!

Photo by Patrick McDermott/NHLI via Getty Images

Green fiiiiires....SCAAAR! (Greg Fiume, Getty)

The Washington Capitals won game two of their 2013 Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series against the New York Rangers on Saturday afternoon, prevailing 1-0 in overtime on a Mike Green power play goal.  Both teams generated chances constantly during the game and the only reason that the contest remained scoreless as long as it did was the stellar play of Braden Holtby in Washington’s net but particularly Henrik Lundqvist, who rebounded from a below-par game (for him) on Thursday to nearly steal a result for his team in this game.  Holtby finished the game with 24 stops for his first career playoff shutout as Washington took a 2-0 lead in a playoff series for the first time since the Conference Quarterfinals in 2011, when they also played the Rangers and won a series in five.

How about Mike Green.  Perhaps no player on the Capitals has caught more flak than Green over the last three years other than Alex Ovechkin, and Green has spent the last three months thumbing his nose at those critics in a tremendously entertaining and thrilling fashion.  Even when Green was putting up 65 points a season, he was ripped for all of the things that he didn’t do.  Now, he’s returned to his form as one of the best pure offensive defensemen in the game, and it’s not just because of this goal, his first career playoff overtime winner.  He’s been dominant consistently over the last two months and has gotten the offensive results to prove.  I’ll never forget that I was once told the Caps should trade him for Douglas Murray – and that would be a steal for Washington.

Read on for more about this thrilling win.

#6 New York Rangers at #3 Washington Capitals
Capitals Lead Series 1-0
Location:  Verizon Center
Time: 12:30 PM
TV:  Local/National: NBC, Canada: TSN
Radio: 1500AM & 820AM
Previous Game:
Game 1, May 2 in Washington: 3-1 W
Remaining Games:
Game 3, May 6 in New York, 7:30 PM
Game 4, May 8 in New York, 7:30 PM
Game 5*, May 10 in Washington, 7:30 PM
Game 6*, May 12 in New York, TBD
Game 7*, May 13 in Washington, TBD
*If necessary
Familiar Faces of Former Capitals:  D Steve Eminger (212 GP, 2002-08)

No sitting around!  Read on!

Photo by Patrick McDermott/NHLI via Getty Images

Alex Ovechkin found twine for a franchise-record 31st time in the playoffs on Thursday night. (WP)

The Washington Capitals won game one of their 2013 Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series against the New York Rangers on Thursday night by a 3-1 score inside a trembling Verizon Center.  Despite a start that saw them dominate play but not convert and then allow New York to grab a lead, the Caps and Braden Holtby dug in their heels and got a power play goal from Alex Ovechkin followed by markers from Marcus Johansson and then Jason Chimera to take a 3-1 lead in the second period.  Holtby finished the game with 35 stops, several of them spectacular, to get the Caps that critical first game, something they did not do last postseason.  It was a scintillating opening for what is sure to be an awesome series.

The Capitals absolutely dominated the opening stages of the game, but were stopped time and time again by the stellar play of Henrik Lundqvist in the Ranger net.  Their failure in converting those early chances allowed New York to seize the momentum with a 7-0 run on shots, which concluded in the first goal of the game and really deflated the arena and Washington’s offensive motor.  Regardless of the outcome, Lundqvist’s talent and the Rangers’ system make it imperative that the Caps capitalize on their early chances if they are going to win this series.  It is simply a necessity.  You cannot waste chances, especially power play chances, in the playoffs and expect to win a seven game series.  It's a moot point because of the victory tonight, but it's something to consider.

Read on for more about the win here.

#6 New York Rangers (26-18-4) at #3 Washington Capitals (27-18-3)
Location: Verizon Center
Time: 7:30 PM
TV:  Local: Comcast SportsNet, National: NBC Sports Network, Canada: TSN
Radio: 1500AM & 820AM
Previous Games:
February 17 in New York:  1-2 Loss
March 10 in Washington  1-4 Loss
March 24 in New York  3-2 Shootout Win
Familiar Faces of Former Capitals: D Roman Hamrlik (72 GP, 2011-13), D Steve Eminger (212 GP, 2002-08)
Former Rangers:  RW Wojtek Wolski (46 GP, 2010-11), D Tom Poti (229 GP, 2002-06)

Not those Rangers! Read on!

Photo by Phil Van der Vossen, Capitals Outsider

Your NHL “Three Stars” for the month of April have been announced! Washington Capitals right wing Alex Ovechkin, St. Louis Blues goaltender Brian Elliott, and New York Rangers center Derek Stepan have been given the title for the month.

The first star was awarded to Alex Ovechkin, who led the League with 14 goals and 22 points in 13 games throughout the month. Those 14 goals set an April record for scoring and also boosted Ovechkin’s goals to help him win the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy for leading NHL scorer.

The second star was given to Brain Elliott, who posted an 11-2-0 record, 1.28 goals-against-average, .948 save percentage and three shutouts in 13 games in April.  Elliott’s stellar goaltending helped the Blues secure the fourth seed in the Western Conference

The third star of the month is Derek Stepan, who finished second among skaters with 19 points and recorded a +14 rating in 14 games. He registered points in 12 of his 14 games in April and tallied three game-winning goals.

Source: NHL – www.nhl.com

Follow Tara Colison on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/TaraC_RtR

Four players have already captured NHL trophies since the end of the season. The Washington Capitals very own captain, Alex Ovechkin, was one of those, claiming the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy for being the League’s goal-scoring leader. This is Ovechkin’s third “Rocket” Trophy. Ovechkin scored 32 goals to lead the goal-scoring race.

Tampa Bay Lightning forward Martin St. Louis captured the Art Ross Trophy for being the NHL’s scoring champion with the most points in the League, the second of his career. Two goalies won the William M Jennings Trophy, Chicago Blackhawks goaltenders Corey Crawford and Ray Emery, for being the goaltenders of the club allowing the fewest goals during the regular season.

For now, the rest of the trophies to be handed out will have to wait until the NHL Awards – which of course comes after the best trophy of them all, the Stanley Cup.

Source: NHL, www.nhl.com

Follow Tara Colison on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/TaraC_RtR

It's playoff time!  Let's dive in to those predictions from Staff Writers Andy Green and Harry Hawkings:

Eastern Conference

Harry says: Pittsburgh over NY Islanders in 6

The Islanders are a great story and have earned their playoff spot with excellent play from John Tavares and the rest of their young roster.  They have a good goalie, too.  But their defense isn’t that great and the roster as a whole is relatively young.  On the other hand are the Penguins, who have struggled mightily in terms of puck possession without Sidney Crosby but are still one of the most talented teams in the NHL from top to bottom.  Their only weakness is goalie (yes, it’s a weakness), especially after Marc-Andre Fleury’s disastrous performance last spring.  Tomas Vokoun is a capable backup, though.  With Crosby likely to return at some point in the series, Pittsburgh seems like the easy choice here.  But the Isles will make it interesting.

Andy says: Pittsburgh wins over New York in 5
The New York Islanders have made their loyal fans very happy by returning to the playoffs in a season with no expectations.  They have ridden a speedy offense and strong netminding from Evgeni Nabokov to a matchup against the juggernaut Pittsburgh Penguins.  The Penguins lost the first game of the season series against the Isles in late January and haven't lost to them since. While the Islanders hold an advantage in goaltending and perhaps speed, the Penguins have tremendous depth at every position even without Sidney Crosby and should have little trouble dispatching the feisty Islanders.

Read on for predictions of the other series.

The Washington Capitals are set to face the New York Rangers in the playoffs for the third season in a row and the fourth time in five seasons, which is every playoff year since 2009 if you're a Ranger fan.  While the teams are quite familiar with each other from the last 3 seasons, only 3 of the 22 players from that 2009 Rangers playoff team are expected to face the Caps this year, and a fourth, Marc Staal, is injured and likely will not play.  By contrast, 8 of the Caps' 23 players who took the ice against the Rangers in 2009 are on the team, though it is uncertain whether Tom Poti, Jeff Schultz, or Brooks Laich will see game action. 

The Rangers still have Head Coach John Tortorella and former Capitals head coach Jim Schoenfeld on staff from 2009.  Who knows? Perhaps we could expect another Jelly Doughnut Incident or Water Bottle Incident this year.  Either way, we're pretty sure the Capitals head coach won't be talking smack about the fans at Madison Square Garden, like Bruce Boudreau did in 2011.

Read More!

Photo from DC Sports Bog