Stanley Cup playoffs: Get to know the Washington Capitals

Cassandra Negley

Stanley Cup playoffs: Get to know the Washington Capitals image

A capsule look at the Washington Capitals ahead of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Caps face the New York Islanders in the first round, starting Wednesday at Verizon Center.

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Season record: 45-26-11, 101 points

Standing: Second in Metropolitan Division, securing home-ice advantage in the first round.

Clinched: April 5

Coach: Barry Trotz (regular season: 602-505-60-111; playoffs: 19-31)

Captain: Alex Ovechkin

Alternates: Nicklas Backstrom, Brooks Orpik

SERIES PREVIEWS: Canucks-Flames | Ducks-Jets | Blues-Wild | Predators-Blackhawks

Players to watch: Alex Ovechkin led the league 53 goals to win the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy. He passed Peter Bondra in early April on the team’s all-time scoring list and is the sixth NHL player to hit 50 goals in a season six times. Perhaps unsurprisingly, linemate Nicklas Backstrom was tops in the league with 60 assists and sixth in points.

Goaltender: Braden Holtby leads the league in saves with 1,857. He has a .923 save percentage. 

Playoff history: Washington made it to the playoffs for six consecutive years until missing last season with a fifth-place finish in the Metro.This is the Caps' 24th playoff appearance, but their have only two trips to the conference finals.

Championships: The Capitals have played in one Stanley Cup Final, losing to the defending champion Detroit Red Wings in a four-game sweep in 1998.

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First-round schedule (*-if necessary):

April 15, Islanders 4, Capitals 1
April 17, 7 p.m. at Washington; NBCSN, Sportsnet, TVA Sports
April 19, noon at Islanders; NBC, Sportsnet, TVA Sports
April 21, 7:30 p.m. at Islanders; USA, SN 360, TVA Sports
*April 23, TBD at Washington, TBD
*April 25, TBD at Islanders, TBD
*April 27, TBD at Washington, TBD

SERIES PREVIEWS: Rangers-Penguins | Canadiens-Senators | Capitals-Islanders | Lightning-Red Wings

Cassandra Negley is a contributor at Sporting News. She’s currently the sports editor at the Thomasville Times-Enterprise in Georgia and writes for the Mets blog, Rising Apple. You can follow her on Twitter, @casnegley

Cassandra Negley