And so it’s set.
Caps vs. Rangers. Red, white and blue vs. blue, red and white. Nine prior playoff meetings, with the Rangers taking the most recent matchup back in 2015.
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. The Miracle on 34th Street. Sergei Fedorov. Matt Bradley’s heroism. Alex Semin vs. Marc Staal, John Tortorella vs. Verizon Center fans. Jason Chimera in double overtime. Marian Gaborik in triple overtime. Joel Ward’s double-minor. Charlie Lindgren vs. his brother. Horrifying acts of violence and Tom Wilson vs…well, everyone. And of course, Peter Laviolette. 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 for the season series against the Rangers.
Season series:
| Date | Location | Result | GF | GA | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12/9 | Capital One Arena | W | 4 | 0 | 0.0% | 100% |
| 12/27 | Madison Square Garden | L | 1 | 5 | 0.0% | 66.7% |
| 1/13 | Capital One Arena | W | 3 | 2 | 0.0% | 100% |
| 1/14 | Madison Square Garden | L | 1 | 2 | 0.0% | 100% |
Head-to-head matchups at five on five (via hockeyviz.com):
Individual player stats:
| Player | GP | G | A | P | +/- | PIM | P/GP | EVG | EVP | PPG | PPP | SHG | SHP | OTG | GWG | S | S% | TOI/GP | FOW% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T.J. Oshie | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0.67 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 13.3 | 17:17 | 33.3 |
| John Carlson | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0.5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 25:09 | — |
| Dylan Strome | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0.5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 17:36 | 62.3 |
| Rasmus Sandin | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 18:41 | — |
| Nic Dowd | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 0.25 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 50 | 15:29 | 35.2 |
| Tom Wilson | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 2 | 0.25 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 25 | 16:59 | 0 |
| Sonny Milano | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 100 | 14:17 | — |
| Nicolas Aube-Kubel | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0.25 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 11.1 | 10:30 | 100 |
| Max Pacioretty | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0.5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 16:56 | 100 |
| Beck Malenstyn | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.25 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 14:22 | 50 |
| Martin Fehervary | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0.25 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 19:12 | — |
| Connor McMichael | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0.25 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 14:24 | 44.7 |
| Aliaksei Protas | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -2 | 0 | 0.25 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 14:26 | 57.1 |
| Alex Ovechkin | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 18:02 | — |
| Nick Jensen | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 19:38 | — |
| Trevor van Riemsdyk | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 18:46 | — |
| Hendrix Lapierre | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8:00 | 28.6 |
| Ivan Miroshnichenko | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 12:52 | — |
And now, for getting through all of those stats, your moment of zen: