Fresh nightmares are not quickly forgotten. If the Capitals don’t put the Rangers right away, they’ll start to relive the choke horrors of their past two springs.
The last time they held the same 2-0 lead they bring into the Garden this afternoon, they blew it to the 2009 Penguins, who went on to win the Cup. Last year, they led Montreal 3-1, only to crash again.
“The last couple of years, when we got the lead, we felt like the series was done,” Alex Ovechkin said. “The whole team was a little bit calm, a little bit relaxed.
“This team is different.”
As further illustration of 2-0 lead fragility, the Rangers led Washington 2-0 in those same 2009 playoffs, yet the Caps advanced to their collapse against Pittsburgh.
“This is not the team of recent years,” said Jason Chimera, who scored the only goal the Caps would need in their 2-0 victory over the Rangers in Game 2 Friday in Washington.
The Rangers haven’t been held to one goal in the opening pair of any series since Herb Brooks’ Smurfs faced the dynastic 1983 Islanders. Their previous one-goal production in the first two games came against the 1934 Montreal Maroons, in two-game 2-1 total-goals defeat.
Brooks’ 1983 Rangers lost 4-1 and 5-0 at Nassau Coliseum, but rebounded with a pair of Garden victories. Caps general manager George McPhee was one of the sparkplugs of that series, sharing the Rangers scoring lead with Ron Duguay at 2-2-4, requiring a headline of McPhee-ver. The Islanders closed out that series in six en route to their last Cup.
In their recent flops, the Caps went to overtime in Game 3 against the Penguins in 2009, nearly gaining the 3-0 lead that has only been toppled three times, by the 1942 Leafs over the Red Wings, the 1975 Islanders over the Penguins and the 2010 Flyers over the Bruins. Teams holding 2-0 series leads have failed to win 41 times, better hope for the Rangers — who turned that trick on the 1996 Canadiens — than facing the thrice-survived 0-3 deficit.