The Washington Capitals travel to New York Friday night looking for a spot in the Eastern Conference finals. The Caps took a 3-1 series lead with Wednesday night’s 2-1 win at home in the Verizon Center on the strength of strong defense, a hot goalie in Braden Holtby and a pair of goals from rookie forward Andre Burakovsky.
A Capitals win would send the team to a Conference final for the first time since the 1997-98 season when they lost in a 4-0 sweep to the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup finals. A win would also mark the first trip to a Conference final for first year head coach Barry Trotz who never reached that far in his 15 season at the helm in Nashville. It would also be the first such trip for the four longest serving players on the Caps roster – Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Brooks Laich and Mike Green.
In NHL history, only 27 of the 279 teams who have taken a 3-1 lead have lost the series. Washington is one of those 27 having lost a first round series to Montreal just five years ago. The Rangers have been on the other end of that equation coming back from a 3-1 deficit to Pittsburgh in the second round just last season. So, while the odds certainly favor the Capitals, they certainly can’t afford to be an overconfident squad.
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