Washington Capitals, New York Rangers aim to advance -NHL Playoffs Game 7 Update
Surprisingly Washington was able to knock New York down in Game 6 despite being on the brink of elimination to force a Game 7 in which both Capitals and Rangers will be giving all they have got to advance into the Eastern Conference Finals.
Being the top seed of the East, New York will have to work extra hard in order to save themselves from embarrassment, and underestimating the Capitals at any angle could be fatal to their plans of making a run for the Stanley Cup.
"That's what we play for all year: home-ice advantage," Rangers captain, Ryan Callahan, said. "And I think home-ice advantage helps when it's that Game 7. We have to go in there, be ready to go, feed off the crowd and get a win."
Statistics might have helped Washington in Game 6 as Capitals’ rookie goalie, Braden Holtby, upheld his status of never losing consecutive matchups but looking at it from another point of view, he has not won back-to-back contests in the series so far either.
If things continue to work out accordingly, New York should be looking forward to taking the win.
"We're resilient," Washington defenseman, Karl Alzner, said. "We have that thick skin. We know when to battle back when we need to and have to."
Both teams have went seven games in their opening series as New York faced Ottawa Senators and Washington Capitals went up against the defending Stanley Cup champions, Boston Bruins.
Seeing how both teams made it out of Game 7 after a tough competition, their upcoming deciding contest should be even more exciting.
"It's where we want to be," Holtby said. "We didn't expect a short series."
This year will be a make-it or break-it situation for a lot of Washington players as they have disappointed the last few seasons despite ending off as the top Eastern Conference team. Now as they went in as the seventh seed and managed to put down the Bruins,
Capitals need to put everything on the line and play like there is no tomorrow or else the organisation could be facing some major changes during the offseason.
Game 7 will definitely be huge in every sense. Washington and New York will meet for the final time on Saturday, May 12, 2012, on Rangers turf at the Madison Square Garden at 7:30 PM EDT.
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