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No repeat of last year: Capitals take out Rangers 3-1, win series 4-1

Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom

Washington Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin, from Russia, and Nicklas Backstrom, from Sweden, celebrate Ovechkin’s goal during the second period in Game 5 of a first-round NHL Stanley Cup hockey playoff series with the New York Rangers Saturday, April 23, 2011 in Washington.(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

AP

The Capitals headed into today’s Game 5 working with the mindset that last year’s playoff failure after being up 3-1 in the series didn’t mean anything and that they’d take a more relaxed approach to how they came out in today’s Game 5. Whatever their game plan was, it worked perfectly as the Capitals ousted the Rangers from the playoffs with a 3-1 win this afternoon to take their series four games to one.

Much like it has been all series long, it’s been the big names helping to lead the way for Washington. Mike Green got it all started in the first period with his power play goal. Even though Green didn’t end up sticking around for the whole game thanks to being struck in the head by a puck later in the first period, his goal helped set the tone for Washington.

In the second period it was Alex Ovechkin dazzling the fans at Verizon Center with a highlight-reel goal that brought the house down and gave the Caps a 2-0 lead.

While the Rangers power play sputtered again today, they were never a real threat to the Capitals all game as the Caps were more physical, won most of the puck battles along the boards and got tremendous goaltending from Michal Neuvirth.

Neuvirth stopped 26 out of 27 shots allowing just a very late goal to Wojtek Wolski in the final 40 seconds of the game to spoil the shutout. Neuvirth’s effort today was outstanding and he looked cool all game long and most especially at moments when the Rangers gained some momentum circling the Caps net. Alexander Semin’s late goal with just over three minutes to play to the short side past Henrik Lundqvist (24 saves) sealed the game up and sent the Caps faithful home happy and set to prepare for whoever the Caps may face in the second round.

For the Rangers it’s a disappointing finish but not all too surprising. New York had to expend so much effort and energy at the end of the season to get into the playoffs that you can’t exactly fault them for being out of gas and unable to keep up with an intense team like Washington. Not getting better performances from Marian Gaborik and being without Ryan Callahan were brutal blows to their offense. Henrik Lundqvist can really only do so much in New York without getting better help from his offense. Expect that to be addressed in some way in the offseason by GM Glen Sather.

The Capitals now look ahead to the second round of the playoffs and their next opponent could be any one of Buffalo, Montreal or Tampa Bay. If the Sabres knock off Philadelphia, the Caps will get to face Buffalo. That fate could be decided as soon as tomorrow afternoon as the Sabres lead Philadelphia 3-2 in their series and they’ll play Game 6 at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.