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And so it's set.
Caps vs. Rangers. Red, white and blue vs. blue, red and white. Four prior playoff meetings split down the middle - two series apiece, 11 wins apiece. Bobby Carpenter (and a pick) for Mike Ridley, Kelly Miller and Bob Crawford. Jaromir Jagr (and a ton of cash) for Anson Carter. John friggin' Druce.
Back to the here and now, the Miracle on 34th Street. The League's best penalty kill against its second-rated top power play. A showdown of overly handsome goalies. John Tortorella, Sean Avery, Colton Orr vs. Donald Brashear, Alex Semin vs. Marc Staal... the list goes on and on. There's history and there's present-day animosity.
There'll be plenty of time to dive into those storylines and others in the days ahead, but first things first - the numbers. Below are the Caps team and individual stats (after the jump) from this season against the Rangers.
Head-to-Head:
| Game 1 | W, 3-1 |
| Game 2 | OTW, 5-4 |
| Game 3 | W, 2-1 |
| Game 4 | SOL, 5-4 |
| Record | 3-0-1 |
| GF/Game | 3.50 |
| GA/Game | 2.50 |
| Goal Diff/Game | 1.00 |
| Powerplay Success | 20.0% |
| Powerplay Opps. | 15 |
| PP Per Game |
3.75 |
| Penalty Kill Success |
92.9% |
| Times Shorthanded | 14 |
| Times SH/ Game | 3.50 |
| Save Percentage | .910 |
| Save Pct. Against |
.888 |
Capitals Skaters vs. New York
| GP | G | A | P | +/- | PIM | PPG | PPA | GWG | SOG | PCT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alex Ovechkin | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | -1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 30 | 10.0 |
| Nicklas Backstrom | 4 | 0 | 5 | 5 | -2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 0.0 |
| Mike Green | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 37.5 |
| Tomas Fleischmann | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 22.2 |
| Alexander Semin | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 17 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 50.0 |
| Eric Fehr | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 14.3 |
| Brooks Laich | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 14.3 |
| Viktor Kozlov | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 16.7 |
| Shaone Morrisonn | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 33.3 |
| Michael Nylander | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0.0 |
| Tom Poti | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 100.0 |
| Boyd Gordon | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.0 |
| David Steckel | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0.0 |
| Jeff Schultz | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.0 |
| Karl Alzner | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.0 |
| Sean Collins | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0.0 |
| Sergei Fedorov | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0.0 |
| Jay Beagle | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0.0 |
| Matt Bradley | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Donald Brashear | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.0 |
| Chris Clark | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.0 |
| John Erskine | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.0 |
| Alexandre Giroux | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0.0 |
| Andrew Gordon | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.0 |
| Bryan Helmer | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.0 |
| Milan Jurcina | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0.0 |
| Tyler Sloan | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.0 |
| Keith Aucoin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Brian Pothier | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
Capitals Goalies vs. New York
| GP | GS | MIN | W | L | OT | GA | GAA | SA | SV | SV% | SO | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jose Theodore | 3 | 3 | 177 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 3.05 | 79 | 70 | .886 | 0 |
| Brent Johnson | 2 | 1 | 69 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.87 | 32 | 31 | .969 | 0 |
| Simeon Varlamov | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 |
Capitals Centers' Face Offs vs. New York
| GP | FOW | FOL | TOT | PCT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| David Steckel | 4 | 27 | 14 | 41 | 65.9 |
| Sergei Fedorov | 1 | 11 | 6 | 17 | 64.7 |
| Boyd Gordon | 4 | 22 | 13 | 35 | 62.9 |
| Michael Nylander | 4 | 14 | 16 | 30 | 46.7 |
| Brooks Laich | 4 | 11 | 13 | 24 | 45.8 |
| Nicklas Backstrom | 4 | 24 | 33 | 57 | 42.1 |
| Team Total | 4 | 113 | 105 | 218 | 51.8 |
And now, for getting through all those stats, your moment of zen: