First postseason meeting between teams since 1994
It took until the second-to-last day of the regular season, but the Capitals finally found out over the weekend who their opponent will be in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
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Amtrak’s Acela train will get a workout over the next two weeks as No. 2 seed Washington, winner of the Southeast Division, plays the No. 7 seed New York Rangers in a best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.
It is the first time the two clubs have met in the postseason since 1994, the year New York last won the Stanley Cup. This season, the Caps (50-24-8, 108 points) won three of the four games they played vs. the Rangers (42-30-9, 93 points) and earned a point in a 5-4 shootout loss on Feb. 11 at Madison Square Garden.
But Washington can’t use those games as a complete barometer because in many ways those wins came against a different team. The Rangers were busy in the days leading up to the NHL trade deadline, adding players to the roster, subtracting others and — most important — hiring a new coach on Feb. 24 in John Tortorella, who led the Tampa Bay Lightning to the Stanley Cup in 2004.
“I think it’s finally good to know [who the opponent is] so that you can prepare,” Caps coach Bruce Boudreau told reporters after Saturday’s ugly 7-4 loss at Florida in the regular-season finale. “But in a way it’s like preparing for a whole new team — because we haven’t seen this team under Tortorella, which has been very good.”
Indeed, the Rangers’ roster has a new look. They brought back controversial forward Sean Avery, one of the game’s great agitators who had left for Dallas via free agency over the summer.
But Avery never fit in with the Stars and in December was suspended by the NHL for making inappropriate comments about another player’s celebrity girlfriend. He was waived by Dallas and had to undergo counseling as a condition of his reinstatement by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. Avery, claimed off waivers by New York, finally made his return March 5.
At the NHL trade deadline the day before, the Rangers had already added winger Nik Antropov from Toronto and defenseman Derek Morris from Phoenix. Antropov has six goals and five assists since the trade. Morris has been another steady presence on the blueline for New York.
