The New York Rangers will face off against the Washington Capitals in the first round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. This will be the first time these two teams have met in the playoffs since the second round of the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs, when the Blueshirts overcame a 3-1 series deficit to win Game 7 in overtime at Madison Square Garden. These teams are much different now and this season, both teams were on the opposite end of the spectrum. The Rangers were the Presidents’ Trophy winners and were the first team to clinch their playoff spot. The Capitals clinched their playoff spot in their last game of the regular season and were able to secure the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.
These two teams split the four games they played during the regular season, each going 2-2 and they have not played each other since January. The Rangers went on to add some solid pieces at the 2024 Trade Deadline, while the Capitals traded away veteran players for draft picks. Somehow, they were still able to make a push for the final playoff spot and made it in. In this preview, we will compare the teams in different aspects and see why the Rangers are the favorites heading into this series.
Forward and Defensive Depth: New York Rangers
It will come to no surprise that the Rangers have the edge when it comes to the forward and defensive depth in this series. Up front, they are led by Artemi Panarin, who scored a career-high 49 goals and 120 points this season. They also have Chris Kreider, who quietly had a 39-goal season and is the only Ranger still on the team that was there in 2015, when the Rangers beat the Capitals. Career seasons from Vincent Trocheck, Alexis Lafreniere and the always-dangerous Mika Zibanejad push the Rangers’ offense above the Capitals. The backend is led by Adam Fox, who despite missing 10 games due to injury, had a great season with 17 goals and 73 points in 72 games. He is surrounded by Ryan Lindgren, K’Andre Miller, Jacob Trouba, Braden Schneider, and Erik Gustafsson, a very solid and experienced group that showed growth this season and have proven to be reliable in their own end.
When you look at the Capitals’ offense, they don’t have the game breakers like the Rangers do. The depth also got worse when they traded Anthony Mantha and Evgeny Kuznetsov at the rrade deadline. Their leading scorer was Dylan Strome, who had 67 points in 82 games. The Capitals didn’t have a player over 70 points, while the Rangers had five. Alex Ovechkin had a very poor start to the season, but after the All-Star Break, turned his game around and finished the season with 31 goals. He is and always be a threat, even if he is slowing down. Tom Wilson is another player Rangers fans know well. While he didn’t have a great season, with just 35 points, he is still dangerous. The defense for Washington is not what it was when they won in the Stanley Cup in 2018. John Carlson is still the number-one guy, but his game has fallen off. They don’t have the depth to match the Rangers at either forward or defense.
Goaltending: New York Rangers
One of the biggest reasons why the Capitals made the playoffs was a breakout season from Charlie Lindgren, brother of the Rangers’ defenseman. He was the backup goalie at the start of the season, but very quickly, he was outplaying Darcy Kuemper and he eventually took the starter role. He had a very good season, finishing with a 26-16-7 record, 2.67 goals against average (GAA) and a .911 save percentage (SV%.) He was arguably the Capitals’ regular-season MVP because without his great play, they wouldn’t have been close to making the playoffs at all.
Related: Eastern Conference Playoff Matchups Set for 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs
While Lindgren did have a great season, Igor Shesterkin was even better for the Rangers. He has a record of 36-17-2 with a 2.58 GAA and a .913 SV%. He started this season off slowly, but since the All-Star Break, has turned things around and was arguably the best goalie in the league to end the season, posting a 17-5-1 record with a 2.20 GAA and a .929 SV%. He gets the edge over Lindgren because he had the better overall season and has the playoff experience of the past two seasons. He knows how to step up his game in the games that matter most and he could truly be the x-factor for the Rangers.
Special Teams: New York Rangers
The special teams heading into this series also favor the Rangers heavily. They finished third in the league on the power play with a 26.4% success rate. The Capitals finished eighteenth in the league with a 20.6% success rate. The Capitals used to have one of — if not the best — power play in the league, but as time has gone on and players have left and gotten older, it just isn’t the same anymore. Ovechkin led the team with 13 goals, while T.J. Oshie finished second with seven. For the Rangers, Kreider led the way with 18 goals, which tied him with Auston Matthews for fifth in the entire league in power-play goals. Zibanejad finished second on the Rangers with 12 goals on the man advantage.
The Rangers’ penalty kill was also great this season. They finished third in the league with a 84.5% success rate, while the Capitals finished nineteenth with a 79.0% success rate. For the Rangers, adding Alex Wennberg at the deadline gave them another player to use on the PK, and gave them six players and three pairs of forwards they could use and played very well from the deadline on. Zibanejad and Kreider each had two short-handed goals, which led the Rangers. While the Capitals have solid defensive-minded forwards like Nic Dowd, it just wasn’t enough to get the PK where it needed to be and if they take too many penalties in this series, it will cost them.
Overall, the Rangers are the extreme favorites in this series. They have the edge in every major category and they are going against a team that barely got in and has the worst goal differential of any playoff team in the salary-cap era with a -37. The Rangers need to do what they have done all season and just dominate their opponent rather than playing down to the Capitals level. If the Capitals want any chance to win this series, they need to smother the Rangers and keep the games low scoring and low event, which is when they play their best. If the Rangers can keep playing like they have for the majority of the season, they should win this series and move on the second round.