Tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers face-off for Game 7 of their Eastern Conference Round 2 best-of-seven series live from Madison Square Garden in New York City as part of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
It's all on the line as Washington and New York duke it out for a chance to play the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference Final after they took out the Montreal Canadiens 4-1 in Game 6 on Tuesday.
The Capitals are looking to advance to the Eastern Conference Final for the first time since losing to the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Final in 1998 while the Rangers are looking for their second straight advancement to Round 3 and third in the last four years.
Game 7 can be live streamed for free by clicking here.
Washington took Game 1 at MSG with a 2-1 win on a buzzer beater while New York bounced back on home ice with a 3-2 triumph in Game 2. When the series shifted to the nation's capital, the Caps took both games with a 1-0 triumph in Game 3 and a 2-1 victory in Game 4.
The Blueshirts were then two minutes away from elimination on home ice, but managed to tie the contest and win it 2-1 in overtime in Game 5 and then withstood a frantic third period effort from their opponents to win Game 6 by a 4-3 margin.
That sets the stage for Game 7, something both of these teams are familiar with.
The Capitals ousted the Rangers in seven games in 2009 while New York eliminated Washington in the do-or-die game in 2012 and then again in 2013.
The Blueshirts are 13-3 in matches in which they face elimination and have won five straight Game 7s, one shy of tying an NHL record, while the Caps have dropped 10 of their last 13 games where they've had an opportunity to close out a series.
Washington defeated the New York Islanders in seven games during Round 1 while New York is looking to become the first team in history to erase a 3-1 series deficit in two straight postseasons after crawling out of that same predicament against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Round 2 last spring.
Alex Ovechkin guaranteed his team would win Game 7 after failing to close out the series in Game 5 and 6 and he has stood by that statement.
"I know the team, I know the effort, I know the character of this group," Ovechkin said per NHL.com. "I think we all together know what [we are] capable of, what we can do. It's huge. We just go in there, concentrate. Three periods, might be four, might be five. Whatever it takes."
Ovechkin is second on the team with eight points off of four goals and four assists while Nicklas Backstrom has three tallies and six helpers for a team-best nine points. Rookie Evgeny Kuznetsov has found the twine a club-high five times in these playoffs and has seven points.
Derick Brassard has paced the Rangers with eight points and is tied with Chris Kreider (5-0--5) for the team lead with five goals. Rick Nash has struggled in his playoff career, but he notched his second goal of the postseason in Game 6 and is tied with Derek Stepan (2-5--7) for second on the Blueshirts with seven points.
The Rangers' front line will try to beat Washington netminder Braden Holtby and he is 6-6 with a 1.71 goals-against average and a .944 save percentage thus far this postseason.
New York counters with Henrik Lundqvist in the blue paint and he is 7-4 in the playoffs with a 1.68 GAA and a .940 save percentage. Lundqvist is 5-1 in Game 7s in his career and has won his last five do-or-die games.
The Capitals and Rangers each look to advance to the Eastern Conference Final when the puck drops on a decisive Game 7 live tonight from Madison Square Garden in New York City.
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