The Washington Capitals are back in the playoffs after missing out in 2022-23 for the first time in eight years. This season’s squad is ready to embrace a postseason appearance with no expectations as they come into their first-round matchup against the heavily-favorited New York Rangers.
During Ovechkin’s 19-year career, he’s made the postseason 15 different times. The Capitals have rarely been been underdogs. The team recently got a taste of it though in the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs against the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Florida Panthers. They will get it again against the 2024 Presidents’ Trophy-winning Rangers.
“Yeah, we all understand how we have to play, what kind of team New York is going to be,” Ovechkin said Thursday. “We’re just going to play it game by game and see what happens.”
The Capitals took the Panthers to six games in 2022 and may have even pushed them further if Tom Wilson did not tear his ACL in Game One of the series. Wilson didn’t return after getting injured and the Capitals struggled with its young goaltending duo as Vitek Vanecek started the series and Ilya Samsonov finished it.
Today’s Capitals have no question marks in net as Charlie Lindgren secured the number one spot in the second half of the season. Lindgren started 21 of the team’s final 24 games of the regular season, including winning starts on back-to-back days to push the Caps into the playoffs. Lindgren’s steadiness has led to a more confident and cohesive group.
“I think the chemistry we have right now in our locker room is tremendous,” Ovechkin said. “Everybody knows their roles, what they have to do and we all enjoy the time and we all have fun.”
Outside of Lindgren’s top notch play, Ovechkin’s resurgence as an elite goal-scoring threat has helped push the Capitals into the East’s second wild card position. The Great Eight scored 22 times in the team’s final 35 games, putting himself back on pace to capture the NHL’s all-time goals record and giving himself an NHL-record eighteen 30-goal seasons.
“You can see a couple goals, it was rebounds, it was a situation when redirecting shots,” Ovechkin said. “You just have to find a way. You have to battle. You have to fight for it. It’s pretty nice when you get in and help the team to win.”
Ovechkin has not played a team more in the playoffs during his career than he has the Rangers (33 of his 147 career postseason games). In those 33 games which span five different series, the Capitals’ captain has recorded 23 points (13g, 10a).
The Capitals have lost the last three of those series after coming out on top in the first two. The two sides haven’t met up in the postseason since 2015.
“Yeah, [New York] is a great place to play hockey,” Ovechkin said. “It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be loud. We all missed that kind of atmosphere and attention and, yeah, it’s a fun time.”
Puck drop for Game One is set for 3 pm inside Madison Square Garden.
