Tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers face-off to open up their best-of-seven Eastern Conference Round 2 series live from Madison Square Garden in New York City as part of the 2015 Stanley Cup playoffs.
New York won three straight games to bounce the Pittsburgh Penguins from the opening round of the postseason while Washington overcame the New York Islanders in seven matches to get here. These are the last two teams standing in the Metropolitan Division bracket.
The Rangers and Capitals will meet in the playoffs for the fifth time since 2009. The teams have split those meetings 2-2 and are 4-4 all-time in head-to-head series. New York took out Washington in seven games in 2012 and 2013 while the Caps dropped the Blueshirts in seven contests in 2009 and five games in 2011.
This game can be live streamed for free here.
The Capitals played a grueling series against the Islanders last round and a highlight of it was rookie Evgeny Kuznetsov having a breakout set. Kuznetsov had three goals in the series and ranked second on Washington with four points.
"It'll be a good challenge for him if [the Rangers] check him tighter," coach Barry Trotz said per NHL.com. "In the first series, trust me, they were checking him pretty tight and he was able to get through it. I don't see any reason why he's not capable of doing it in the next series."
Nicklas Backstrom (three goals, three assists) led the Capitals with six points last round while Alex Ovechkin (two tallies, three helpers) had five.
The Rangers used their speed all season long en route to the Presidents' Trophy and a franchise-best 53 wins and 113 points. That same style under coach Alain Vigneault's system helped them in Round 1 as they won a playoff series in less than six games for the first time since 2008.
New York will look to use its speed again in this series to thwart off Washington.
"Our biggest reason we had success this year is because we do try to play as fast as possible," Rangers center Derek Stepan told NHL.com. "You're still going to get hit, it's not going to change that. But if we are able to work in groups of five, have close support and talk, we might be able to get through [the Capitals] finishing their checks."
The Rangers spread the scoring around in Round 1, but Derick Brassard led the way with three tallies. Rick Nash and Ryan McDonagh each had one marker and three helpers to tie Stepan for the team lead with four points in the opening round.
McDonagh and his partner Dan Girardi will look to shutdown Ovechkin and Backstrom.
Both teams have key injuries as the Rangers are without Mats Zuccarello (suspected concussion) and the Capitals will play without forward Eric Fehr (upper-body).
In between the pipes, New York turns to Henrik Lundqvist and he went 4-1 in the opening round while putting up a 1.53 goals-against average and a .939 save percentage.
Washington counters with Braden Holtby in the blue paint and he finished Round 1 with a 3-2 record to go along with a 1.63 GAA and a .943 save percentage.
Each team looks to start the series strong when the lights come up on the Capitals and Rangers at Madison Square Garden tonight in New York City for Game 1 of their best-of-seven Stanley Cup playoff series.
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