You can feel the magic in the air. It's not just cherry blossoms and springtime here in the DMV. For Washington Capitals fans it's excitment about a historic goal chase and the Caps in prime position to do some damage in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
2025 Playoffs at a glance if it started on 3/16
Here are the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoff match ups if it started today starting with who your Washington Capitals would face:
Washington Capitals vs. New York Rangers
Florida Panthers vs. Ottawa Senators
Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Toronto Maple Leafs
Carolina Hurricanes vs. New Jersey Devils
Winnipeg Jets vs. Vancouver Canucks
Vegas Golden Knights vs. Minnesota Wild
Los Angels Kings vs. Edmonton Oilers
Dallas Stars vs. Colorado Avalanche
So based off these matchups the Capitals could face the New York Rangers in the first round of the playoffs which will be a rematch of last year where the Rangers swept the Caps in four games. But one year later both teams are drastically different.
But it also might not be the Rangers, who trail the Ottawa Senators by six points in the wild card. New York only has one point up on the Montreal Canadiens and two points up on the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Detroit Red Wings and Boston Bruins aren't far behind, just four points.
A Caps vs. Rangers first round series would be epic. Spencer Carbery got his first taste of the playoffs against the Blueshirts last year and the Caps will be hungry for payback. And each Caps vs. Rangers game this season has been nothing short of a dandy.
The Capitals would sweep the season series. The first game was on Oct. 29 in a 5-3 win that saw Alex Ovechkin score twice. The Caps also got goals from Connor McMichael and Aliaksei Protas while Nic Dowd sealed it with an empty net goal.
In the second meeting on Jan. 4, the Caps won again 7-4 sweeping the Capital One Arena portion of the regular season series. Dylan Strome got things on the power play. Lars Eller and Andrew Mangiapane kept it going in the second before a Connor McMichael power play goal gave the Caps command.
In the third period Alex Oveckin found the back of the net and so did Aliaksei Protas while Tom Wilson put it away with an empty net goal. When the teams met again on March 5, it was nothing short of a classic at Madison Square Garden.
Washington would prevail in that game 3-2. Pierre-Luc Dubois got the scoring started. After the Rangers took the lead, Alex Ovechkin tied the game. Then Tom Wilson would win the game in overtime.
Even though the Capitals swept that regular season series, there was a lot of bad blood in just those three games. Expect more of the seame if these two were to meet for a best-of-seven.