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Capitals clinch Presidents’ Trophy with victory against Rangers

By Dave Holcomb

Mar 28, 2017; Saint Paul, MN, USA; Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin (8) celebrates his goal against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center. The Capitals defeated the Wild 5-4 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 28, 2017; Saint Paul, MN, USA; Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin (8) celebrates his goal against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center. The Capitals defeated the Wild 5-4 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports /
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The NHL playoffs will once again go through the nation’s capital.

The Washington Capitals clinched the Presidents’ Trophy on Wednesday night with a 2-0 victory against the New York Rangers. Capitals netminder Braden Holtby stopped all 22 shots he faced to post his league-leading ninth shutout of 2016-17.

Washington captain Alex Ovechkin opened the scoring with a power-play goal at the 14:49 mark of the second period. That was his 34th goal of the season, including a league-high 18th score on the man advantage.

Center Evgeny Kuznetsov, who picked up an assist on the Ovechkin power-play marker, added an insurance goal a little less than six minutes into the third period. Center Marcus Johansson had an assist on both goals.

The victory gives Washington 116 points on the season, which clinches the club’s second-straight Presidents’ Trophy. The Capitals also won the trophy in 2010.

But the best regular-season record hardly means anything come playoff time. Since the first season of the Presidents’ Trophy in 1986, only eight of the 29 award winners also wrote their names on the Stanley Cup. In the last decade, the Presidents’ Trophy winner has only taken home the Stanley Cup twice.

Washington will be battling that history and its own this spring. The Capitals have never won the Stanley Cup in their 43-year history, and the previous two times they won the Presidents’ Trophy, they failed to advance past the second round.

In fact, Washington hasn’t moved past the second round of the playoffs since going to the Stanley Cup Final in 1998. In that series, the Capitals were swept by the defending champion Detroit Red Wings.

Washington has been to the postseason eight times during the Alex Ovechkin era and won a series four times. In the other four, they lost in the second round.

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Last season, the Capitals lost to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round. The Capitals and Penguins would meet again in a rematch if both win their first round matchups.

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