2024 Stanley Cup Playoff Preview Capsules Rangers-Capitals 4-18-24

2024 Stanley Cup Preview
Eastern Conference (Prepare For Beatdowns?)
M1 New York Rangers (55-23-4, 114 PTS +53) vs. MWC2 Washington Capitals (40-31-11, 91 PTS -37)
HC: Peter Laviolette vs. Spencer Carbery
- President’s Trophy Winners vs. -37 Goal Differential
- Revenge On The Mind vs. Opportunistic? Lindgren.
Stats on Centerpieces: Artemi Panarin (82 GP, 49-71-120 +18); Vincent Trocheck (82 GP, 25-52-77 +16); Chris Kreider (82 GP, 39-36-75 +19); Mika Zibanejad (26-46-72 +15) vs. Dylan Strome (82 GP, 27-40-67 -13); Alex Ovechkin (79 GP, 31-34-65 -22); Tom Wilson (74 GP, 18-17-35 -19)
Premium Defense: Adam Fox (72 GP, 17-56-73 +21); Erik Gustafsson (76 GP, 6-25-31 +3); K’Andre Miller (80 GP, 8-22-30 +5); Jacob Trouba (69 GP, 3-19-22 -4) vs. John Carlson (10-42-52 -7); Rasmus Sandin (68 GP, 3-20-23 -13); Out: Nick Jensen, Ethan Bear, Can Iorio, Mcllrath, play on a postseason level?
New York is full of depth; Alex Wennberg isn’t going to have to carry and should be comfortable in the bottom-6. This is also a team that can frustrate defensively, the knock is that they need the powerplay to do the majority of the damage and can be had with 5-on-5 play.
Who else steps up for Washington? Because if the team can’t suppress shots and get a heroic effort from Charlie Lindgren... I can’t see a pathway here. They win low-scoring games 2-0 or get smacked around and drop 7-2 results. This is not a team that wants to push the pace.
New York GF: 282 (6th) Washington GF: 220 (28th) Only CHI, SJ, ANA, SEA was worse!
Goaltending: Igor Shesterkin (55 GP, 36-17-2, 2.58 GAA, .912 SV, 4 SO); Jonathan Quick (27 GP, 18-6-2, 2.62 GAA, .911 SV, 2 SO); vs. Charlie Lindgren (50 GP, 25-16-7, 2.67 GAA, .911 SV, 6 SO); Darcy Kuemper (33 GP, 13-14-3, 3.31 GAA, .890 SV, 1 SO)
Spilt Season Series 2-2. WSH had a 6-0 Shutout!
Who wins the series? Give some reasons for both....
Sunday, April 21 3 p.m. EST on ESPN
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