The New York Rangers will either stay close to home to play their biggest rival or face a familiar playoff opponent in the Eastern Conference Second Round of the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Rangers will open the second round at Madison Square Garden against either the New York Islanders or Washington Capitals. The Rangers are guaranteed to start every playoff series at home because they won the Presidents' Trophy with 113 points.
New York advanced with a five-game, first-round win against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Rangers won Game 5 2-1 in overtime at home on Friday.
The Rangers haven't faced the Islanders in the playoffs since 1994, when they swept them in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. The Rangers have faced the Capitals in the playoffs four times since 2009; they have won the past two series, each in seven games.
The Capitals defeated the Rangers in the 2009 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, coming back from 3-1 to win in seven games. In 2011, Washington won in five games, including overtime wins in Games 1 and 4.
The Rangers defeated the Capitals in seven games in the 2012 Eastern Conference Semifinals. New York won Game 7 at home, 2-1. New York again defeated Washington in seven games in 2013, winning 5-0 in Game 7 at Verizon Center.
Ten Rangers from the 2013 series are on this team. Only goalie Henrik Lundqvist and defensemen Marc Staal and Dan Girardi remain from the loss to the Capitals in 2009.
New York won three of four games against Washington this season, including 4-2 at Verizon Center on April 11 in the regular-season finale. The Rangers defeated the Capitals 3-1 at Verizon Center on March 11, and lost 5-2 at Madison Square Garden on March 29.
Centers Derick Brassard and Kevin Hayes led New York with five points against Washington. Left wing Rick Nash scored three of his Rangers-high 42 goals against the Capitals; he played in three of the four games.
Lundqvist allowed four goals in two wins against Washington, with a .929 save percentage and 2.00 goals-against average. The Rangers outscored the Capitals 7-2 in the first period.
The one issue the Rangers had against the Capitals was on the penalty kill, but almost every team that played them struggled. Washington was 4-for-13 (30.8 percent) on the power play.
Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin scored all of Washington's power-play goals and had five total.
The Rangers played the Islanders eight times in the playoffs from 1975-94; the Islanders won five of the series. Four times the winner of a Rangers-Islanders series has won the Stanley Cup, including three in a row for the Islanders from 1981-83.
The Rangers defeated the Islanders in 1994 before winning the Stanley Cup.
The Islanders had the edge on the Rangers early in this five-game regular-season series, winning the first three games by a combined 13-4. The Rangers responded by defeating the Islanders twice at Nassau Coliseum, 6-5 on Feb. 16 and 2-1 on March 10, with goalie Cam Talbot. Lundqvist started the first three games and was pulled early in a 3-0 loss on Jan. 13 at Madison Square Garden.
Lundqvist was 0-3-0 with an .866 save percentage and 4.88 goals-against average against the Islanders in the regular season.
Nash had three goals and four points in five games. Brassard, Chris Kreider, Martin St. Louis and Derek Stepan each had three points.
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