Caps Eliminate Rangers in Five Games

The Washington Capitals left no doubt that history would not be repeated. Behind a dominant performance from Alex Ovechkin and Michal Neuvirth, the Caps won game five over the New York Rangers, 3-1, today at Verizon Center and became the first Eastern Conference team to secure a berth in the second round.

Mike Green scored the team's first goal on the power play at 5:59 in the first period off a beautiful feed from Ovechkin. The duo had an advantage down low and Ovechkin passed up a shot, giving Green a fairly wide-open net -- although the puck was helped in by a sliding Rangers defenseman. At 7:04 of the second, Ovechkin added a goal on a breakaway when he beat Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist and a defenseman with a forehand-backhand move.

"Today was his best game, easily. And I mean complete," Coach Bruce Boudreau said glowingly about Ovechkin. "The other games he's had flashes of brilliance. Today, I thought he was very visible. He was on the ice doing the right things."

Just for good measure, Alex Semin potted a gorgeous pass from Marcus Johansson at 16:23 to seal the deal. (The Rangers scored a meaningless tally with 32 seconds remaining with Lundqvist on the bench.)

Neuvirth made 26 saves for his fourth win of the postseason. His 1.38 goals-against average in the first round leads the NHL, as does his .946 save percentage. The Caps also killed off 19 of the Rangers' 20 power plays in the series (95 percent).

This was the first time since 1998 (when they made the Stanley Cup finals) that the Caps won a playoff series in five games.

All of these signs point to the fact that the Caps are a much different squad than they were at this time last season. Now they get about a week to rest before starting the second round, and plenty of time to continue their dominant play.