For the third time this spring, fans of the National Hockey League will be treated to a Game 7 as the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers look to keep their Stanley Cup dreams alive at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night.
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One team will go home disappointed while the other club will skate onto the Eastern Conference Final for a matchup with the Tampa Bay Lightning, who knocked off the Montreal Canadiens 4-1 in Game 6 on Tuesday.
The Capitals took Game 1 of this series at MSG 2-1 on a buzzer beater and the Rangers then bounced back to take Game 2 on home ice by a 3-2 margin. When the series shifted to the nation's capital, Washington blanked New York 1-0 in Game 3 and followed it up with a 2-1 triumph in Game 4 to put a 3-1 stranglehold on the set.
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New York was then less than two minutes away from elimination at home, but managed to tie Game 5 and then win it 2-1 in overtime. The Blueshirts followed it up with a 4-3 triumph in Game 6 on the road after withstanding a furious third period effort from the Capitals.
All 11 playoff games have been decided by one goal for the Rangers this spring and New York has set an NHL record with 13 consecutive one-goal postseason matches dating back to last year.
Now, the stage is set for one of the greatest things in sports: Game 7.
As these two familiar foes prepare to face-off in yet another Game 7, here are seven things to watch for when the lights come up on the World's Most Famous Arena.
1) 7th Heaven: The Rangers are 6-0 at Madison Square Garden all-time in Game 7s and have won nine straight elimination games on their home-ice, including Game 5 of this series. The Blueshirts are 13-3 overall in elimination games since the start of the 2012 playoffs and have won their last five do-or-die games, including two against the Capitals in 2012 and 2013.
This is the third time these two clubs have gone the distance against each other in the last four years.
The Capitals, meanwhile, are in Game 7 for their fourth straight series and are 2-2 in that span. Washington has dropped 10 of its last 13 games where it had a chance to close out a series -- including Games 5 and 6 -- and has lost three of four this postseason with that opportunity. The Capitals defeated the New York Islanders in seven games in the opening round, limiting the Isles to just 11 shots on goal in the final contest. This is Washington's ninth win-or-go-home game since 2008. They are 3-5 in that stretch.
2) Chasing History: New York is looking to become the first team in NHL history to rally back from 3-1 series deficits in two straight postseasons. The Rangers fell behind to the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1 in last year's second round and were galvanized by the passing of Martin St. Louis' mother, France, rallying behind their new teammate to come back and win the series in seven games. The victory led to a run that culminated with a trip to the Stanley Cup Final. It marked the first time in 18 tries the Rangers were able to pull themselves out of a 3-1 hole.
The Capitals, who are looking to make it to the Eastern Conference Final for the first time since losing the Stanley Cup to the Detroit Red Wings in 1998, rallied out of a 3-1 series setback against the Rangers to win in seven games in 2009, which marked the last time they won a Game 7 against the Blueshirts. Washington also eliminated New York in five games in 2011.
3) Power Play Problems: Both teams enter Game 7 with trouble on the power play. The Capitals man advantage was tops in the NHL in the regular season, but the Rangers' penalty kill has limited it to a 1-for-12 clip in this series, including no goals in its last 10 tries. New York's power play, a perennial struggle, is just 2-for-14 in the set.
4) A Great Eight Guarantee: Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin scored two goals to open up the first pair of games of this series, but has been held out of the tally column in the last four. Ovechkin is second on the team with eight points off of four markers and four helpers and though his team failed to close out the series twice, he guaranteed a win in Game 7. Ovechkin is 3-5 in Game 7s in his career.
The Great Eight channeled his inner Mark Messier and guaranteed a Game 7 win.
"We gonna come back and win this series," Ovechkin said, according to the New York Daily News after Game 6. "We're gonna play our game and we're gonna come back and we're gonna play Montreal or Tampa."
Ovechkin is a Hart Trophy finalist, looking to take home the hardware for the fourth time in his career after pacing the league with 53 goals in the regular season, but the one trophy he cares most about is the Stanley Cup and the Russian is hoping to get into the Eastern Conference Final for the first time in his career.
5) Struggling Superstars: While Ovechkin is making guarantees, the Rangers are hoping some of their slumping superstars figure it out. Rick Nash finished third in the NHL with 42 goals this season, but when he found the twine with a huge goal against the Caps in Game 6 to put the Blueshirts up 3-1, it marked just the second time he lit the lamp in these playoffs. Nash has seven goals in 52 playoff games in his career and just five in 36 contests as a Ranger. Nash is 3-0 in his career in Game 7s with one assist. St. Louis has also struggled, putting up just four assists through 11 games this spring while he's still searching for his first goal.
6) Series X-Factors: This game wouldn't be necessary if it wasn't for the heroics of Chris Kreider in Game 5. With the Rangers less than two minutes away from elimination on home ice that night, Kreider scored at 18:19 to tie the game at 1-1 and force overtime, where captain Ryan McDonagh notched the game-winning goal. Kreider then set the pace in Game 6 on the road by finding the back of the net just 40 seconds into the match and then bookended the first period by scoring with 0.03 seconds remaining as the Rangers rolled onto victory. Kreider is tied with Derick Brassard for the team lead with five goals this postseason while Brassard paces the club with eight points.
McDonagh and Dan Girardi are also huge keys to this game as they look to keep Ovechkin out of the goal column for the fifth straight game and to keep Nicklas Backstrom at bay.
Backstrom has a team-best nine points (three goals, six assists) this series while two rookies have also made their mark this spring. Evgeny Kuznetsov is first on Washington with five tallies in the playoffs while Andre Burakovsky scored both Capital goals in Game 4 to help stake the team to a 3-1 series edge.
7) Crease Clash: The battle in the blue paint will be between Rangers' former Vezina Trophy winner Henrik Lundqvist and Capitals durable netminder Braden Holtby, who played in 73 games between the pipes in the regular season.
Lundqvist, 33, has beaten the Capitals twice in Game 7 in his career and his five straight wins in the do-or-die game is an NHL record. Lundqvist is 5-1 overall in win-or-go-home contests and owns a 1.00 goals-against average and a .965 save percentage in Game 7s. This series, Lundqvist owns a 1.80 GAA and a .941 save percentage. Overall in these playoffs, the Rangers netminder is 7-4 with a 1.68 GAA and a .940 save percentage.
Holtby, 25, will play in his fifth Game 7 and he is 2-2 in his last four with a 2.23 GAA and a .911 save percentage. The Capitals netminder is 0-2 against New York in Game 7s and has allowed seven goals in the defeats. This series, Holtby has a stingy 1.81 GAA along with a .944 save percentage. Overall this postseason, Holtby is 6-6 with a 1.71 GAA and a .944 save percentage.
These teams have a knack for playing in Game 7s and it's only fitting that the puck will drop on yet another do-or-die game between the Capitals and Rangers on Wednesday at Madison Square Garden.
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