The Washington Capitals will meet a familiar face in the first round of this year’s playoffs and no, I’m not talking about Erik Gustafsson.
After securing the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, the Capitals were matched up with the Presidents’ Trophy-winning New York Rangers coached by Peter Laviolette. The very same Laviolette that departed DC at the culmination of last season, allowing Spencer Carbery to take the reins of the Capitals.
“Didn’t think about it much to be honest with you,” Laviolette said Thursday. “Just thought about our team and getting our group to the playoffs. I’ve coached a lot of teams. If this is the story, I’ll have a story every round I hope. I got a lot of respect for the Capitals and the organization, their players. They’ve obviously done some good things to make the playoffs. Our group’s done some good things to make the playoffs. The game gets decided out on the ice.”
The Capitals and Rangers matched up four times during the regular season with the two teams splitting wins 2-2. Washington won both games on home ice at Capital One Arena and New York won both games inside Madison Square Garden.
Each team scored nine goals apiece in the four matchups but the Capitals were the only team to post a shutout during the season series. Charlie Lindgren blanked the Rangers with a 31-save outing on December 9.
“I think it goes both ways,” Laviolette said. “I think they also have an insight to me and systems but that was the case going into the four games we played in the regular season. You gotta go out on the ice and the team that can figure out their game and play it the best can find success.”
The Capitals were without their captain, Alex Ovechkin, for two of the four games against New York this season. The Great Eight suffered a lower-body injury in mid-January that kept him out of a home-and-home back-to-back against the Rangers on January 13 and 14.
Laviolette is well aware of the damage that Ovechkin can do. The Russian superstar put up 116 goals in the 195 games he played with Laviolette behind the Capitals’ bench.
“He’s just an unbelievable goal-scorer,” Laviolette said. “He’s a competitor, plays a physical game. His ability to score goals is at a level that not many can reach.”
Despite being a mainstay as a head coach on teams within both the Southeast Division and Metropolitan Division, this April’s playoff round will be the first the Capitals have ever played against a Laviolette-coached squad.
None of the current Capitals that spoke after practice on Thursday seemed concerned about the prospect of facing their former bench boss.
“It’s a business,” Ovechkin said. “We’re all here for business.”
“No matter who we play, we’re going to have a pre-scout,” TJ Oshie said. “It’s not really strange at all. We’ll just prepare like we would for anyone else and get ready for Game One.”
Much of the current Capitals roster has also already been turned over since Laviolette was brought in before the start of the 2020-21 campaign. 17 members of the team’s roster either have zero experience with Laviolette, were primarily minor league players during his tenure, or spent just one season under his command.
“It might be a bit more strange for guys that have been here for a while that had him for three years here,” Dylan Strome said. It’s a little different. The Rangers have had a very, very good season, and he’s a great coach. He’s been a great coach for a long time. I think we’re excited, we’re going into it. With the way they play, we played that way last year, and the Caps played that way for a couple years. I think a little familiarity never hurts. We’ll see how it plays out.”
The Capitals are seeking to become the second-straight final seed in the Eastern Conference to knock off a Presidents’ Trophy-winning top seed. During the 2023 playoffs, the Florida Panthers took the number-one-seeded Boston Bruins to seven games in the first round and won the final game in overtime 4-3.
“You gotta give them a lot of respect for the run that they had to be put into that position,” Laviolette said. “There’s good players, it’s a good organization, good staff. I know a lot of that. Any team gets in and they’re capable. Us, them, anybody. I’ve seen top teams win and last guys in the door win as well. You gotta play well when the puck drops.”
