The Caps haven’t made it easy for the Rangers at any point in 2023-24
We already talked about how much damage Charlie Lindgren did when he was in the net vs. the Rangers, but the Caps rarely made it easy for New York all season. We only saw the Rangers handle the Caps on December 27th in a 5-1 blowout win, but Darcy Kuemper was in the net that evening.
We won’t talk much about the Rangers shutout loss to the Caps when the two teams faced one another on December 9th, but the back-to-back on January 13th and 14th could foreshadow what we will see when the puck drops to kick off the series this weekend.
These two games featured a pair of hard-fought battles between the Caps and the Blueshirts, with the matchup on the 13th ending in a 3-2 comeback win over New York. The Rangers took the next game by a score of 2-1, fending off a potential comeback from Washington following T.J. Oshie’s goal in the second period.
So, as you can see from this slideshow, there is no way the Rangers can take the Capitals lightly. Doing so will certainly extend the Presidents’ Trophy winners’ losing streak another season, and the Rangers will be left wondering what could have been this postseason.
(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)