New York-Washington: Rangers Ride a Dark Horse to Madison Square Garden

The New York Rangers, the dark horse of the NHL playoffs, are turning into a Cinderella team, again, with two wins in the first two games on the road in their series with the Washington Capitals.

After a sweep of the first two road games of the series, the Rangers and Caps meet at Madison Square Garden Monday night.

The Rangers five-game winning streak, taking them from the end of the regular season into the playoffs, is surprising many, especially the Washington Capitals.

Some sports writers predicted an upset by the Rangers in this series but nobody predicted a sweep.

However, if the Capitals couldn’t win at home, in their own noisy building, or even score a goal in the last game, how are they going to win one in Madison Square Garden?

A poll on Newsday.com shows a lot of people believe the Rangers will win the series over Ovechkin and the Capitals in six games, not seven, or five, or four. Stan Fischler of the newyorkrangers.com is predicting a sweep of the series by the Rangers.

All the Rangers are looking good in these playoffs, from Henrik Lundqvist out, and they are all blocking a huge number of shots to help their goalie.

Henrik Lundqvist made 35 saves in the Rangers’ 1-0 victory in Game 2—his third career playoff shutout. He was aided by 29 blocked shots.

Ryan Callahan spoiled Washington goaltender Simeon Varlamov's shut-out and his NHL postseason debut by scoring on New York's second shot. Varlamov made his sixth career NHL start.

"Varlamov had his "Welcome to the Playoffs" moment about five minutes in, when Sean Avery plowed through the top of the crease and the goalie used his stick and pads to send the noted agitator to the ice, according to Howard Fendrich of AP.

"Not much later, Varlamov allowed his first postseason goal. Washington's Mike Green, who led all NHL defensemen in goals and points, got caught up in an attack, and when Ovechkin's cross-ice pass went between two teammates, the Rangers were able to rush the other way."

Alex Ovechkin led the NHL in goals for the past two seasons, but hasn't yet scored in this series. Ovechkin led the league with 56 goals during the season but is scoreless in two playoff games so far.

He had two assists in Game 1, when he had 13 shots. Ovechkin also had 10 shots blocked and five went wide.

Ovechkin had Lundqvist beat near the end of the game, but his shot ht the crossbar.

It left the superstar looking toward the sky in amazement. Alex Semin and veteran sniper Sergei Fedorov took turns with Ovechkin trying to get one past the Rangers' goalie.

Ovechkin had only five shots on net in Game 2.

The seventh-seeded Rangers return to New York to take a 3-0 series lead over the No. 2 Capitals. Washington goes on the road down 2-0 in the series.

"Varlamov deserves to start Game 3, but if he can't be absolutely perfect, the Capitals are going to have to discover a way to adapt on the fly, the same way their coach did to give them a chance to win Game 2," says Adam Proteau of The Hockey News.

"If that's too tall an order—and if Lundqvist keeps sizzling," he adds, "warm up the brooms.

The Caps are expected to stick with Varlamov in goal since he played well and Jose Theodore was a little shaky in Game 1.

"The Caps are most effective when they create turnovers by pressuring the puck, but the Rangers have not turned the puck over too often thus far.

Beating Lundqvist early in game 3 would be a huge confidence builder. Washington needs to play desperate hockey as they now need to win 4-of-5 to win the series," according to Brad Kurtzberg of Fox Sports.

The odds aren't in their favor, according to Dan Rosen of NHL.com. "In the NHL, teams have come back to win a seven-game series after going down 2-0 only 12.7 percent of the time (37 for 291)," he says. "The Capitals have never won a series when trailing 2-0; the Rangers have lost just once.

It could be the Rangers versus the Boston Bruins in the next round as the Bruins are also up 2-0 in their series with the Montreal Canadiens.