And so it's set.

Caps vs. Rangers. Red, white and blue vs. blue, red and white. Six prior playoff meetings, with the Caps leading 4-2, a pair of those wins coming in the last three post-seasons. Bobby Carpenter (and a pick) for Mike Ridley, Kelly Miller and Bob Crawford. Jaromir Jagr (and a ton of cash) for Anson Carter. John friggin' Druce. The Miracle on 34th Street. Sergei Fedorov. Matt Bradley's heroism. Alex Semin vs. Marc Staal, John Tortorella vs. Verizon Center fans. Jason Chimera in double overtime. Marian Gaborik in triple overtime. Joel Ward's double-minor... the list goes on and on. There's history and there's present-day animosity.

There'll be plenty of time to dive into those storylines and others in the days ahead, but first things first - the numbers. Below are the Caps team and individual stats (after the jump) through the first three games of this season against the Rangers (Game 4 stats to be added shortly). Oh, and if this intro sounds familiar... it should. It really should.

Head-to-Head:

Game-by-Game Fenwick Timelines:





Capitals Skaters vs. New York

Capitals Goalies vs. New York

GP GS MIN W L O GA GAA SA SV SV% SO Braden Holtby 3 3 155 1

2

0 7 2.71 91

84

.923 0 Michal Neuvirth 1 0 28 0 0 0

1 2.11 11

10 .909 0

Capitals Centers' Face Offs vs. New York (minimum ten draws)

GP FOW FOL TOT PCT Nicklas Backstrom 3 35 11 46 76.1 Matt Hendricks 3 12 6 18 66.7 Mathieu Perreault 2 8 7 15 53.3 Mike Ribeiro 3 11 12 23 47.8 Jay Beagle 3 7 10 17 41.2 Marcus Johansson 2 5 10 15 33.3 Troy Brouwer 3 4 10 14 28.6 Team Total* 3 87 77 164 53.0 Team Total (PP) 3 6 8 14 42.9 Team Total (PK) 3 7 10 17 41.2 Team Total (Offensive Zone) 3 27 23 50 54.0 Team Total (Defensive Zone) 3 33 27 60 55.0 Team Total (Neutral Zone) 3 27 27 54 50.0

*Includes players who did not meet the minimum for inclusion in the table

And now, for getting through all those stats, your moment of zen: