• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Red-hot Capitals open postseason against Flyers

Apr 11, 2008 - 1:32 PM Philadelphia at Washington 7:00 pm EDT Eastern Conference quarterfinals

WASHINGTON (Ticker) - The Washington Capitals are the hottest team in the NHL entering the playoffs.

The Philadelphia Flyers try to cool off the Capitals when the teams faceoff in Game One of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals on Friday.

Washington claimed their first division title since 2000-01 by winning each of their last seven regular-season games and 11 of the last 12 overall.

Much of the Capitals' success can be credited to superstar Alex Ovechkin, who won both the Art Ross and Maurice Richard trophies by leading the league in points (112) and goals (65) and is the front-runner for the Hart Trophy as the Most Valuable Player.

The 22-year-old Russian also netted a league-high 11 game-winning goals and recorded three hat tricks - including a pair of four-goal efforts.

"It's going to be tough (to stop Ovechkin)," Flyers center Jeff Carter said. "You never know what that guy is going to do. He goes 100 miles an hour all the time.

"He's tough to play against but you have to contain him and keep him to the outside. You have to get your stick on the puck when he's got it because you never know when he's going to let it go."

Goaltender Martin Biron will be in charge of stopping Ovechkin when he does release a shot and enters the postseason after a pair of impressive performances, shutting out the New Jersey Devils and Pittsburgh Penguins over the final two games of the regular season.

Biron, who posted a 10-4-4 record over his final 18 games, is ready to take on Washington. "We've had big challenges through the year and this is a big challenge too," he said. "The Capitals could be going into the playoffs as a Cinderella story. They've played extremely hard to get in. Right now, I just wait to go to their building and feel the energy. It's going to be crazy."