If the Washington Capitals are going to go where no Ovechkin-led team has gone before (the third round), the team must claw itself out of a 2-0 series deficit against its biggest rival.
That won’t be easy, but it’s not unprecedented. According to TSN’s @StatsCentre, the Capitals are 1-5 all time when facing a two-oh hole.
#Capitals in a tough position, as they trail their playoff kryptonite the #Penguins 2-0 & are only 1-5 all-time in series where that happens pic.twitter.com/irBsuktUQr
— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) April 30, 2017
The first and only time the Capitals accomplished the feat was back in 2009 against the New York Rangers.
The Rangers won Game One (4-3) and Game Two (1-0) of the first-round series at Verizon Center, but the Capitals rallied to win Game Three at Madison Square Garden (4-0). After the Caps fell to the Rangers (2-1) in Game Four, the Capitals won the series’s last three games.
The Capitals’ 2-1 Game Seven victory was punctuated by one of the greatest goals scored in franchise history. With 4:59 remaining in the third period, hall of famer Sergei Fedorov raced down the wing and ripped a wrist shot top shelf past Henrik Lundqvist.
The Capitals elimination of the Rangers marked their first playoff series victory since reaching the Stanley Cup final in 1998. Verizon Center roared with approval.
Should the Caps fall to the Penguins tonight at PPG Paints Arena, they will face a 3-0 series deficit. The Caps have never come back from a hole that deep, but one player on their team has: Justin Williams.
In 2014, the Los Angeles Kings, facing elimination from the NHL Western Conference Quarterfinals by the San Jose Sharks, won the series’ final four games and went on to win the Stanley Cup over the New York Rangers.
The series was 3-0.
The @LAKings won 4 straight.
On this date in 2014, the historic comeback was completed. https://t.co/hgqEd4mi7d #NHL100 pic.twitter.com/Cr7TfjplT3— NHL (@NHL) April 30, 2017
Fingers crossed.
