The Washington Capitals are hoping they can avoid a repeat of recent history.They are not off to a good start.The Presidents' Trophy winners are involved in a playoff battle with the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins for the second year in a row. The Penguins and Sidney Crosby got the best of Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals in six games last year, and that defeat would've stung head coach Barry Trotz and his players throughout the offseason.The Caps have a chance for revenge and, more importantly, an opportunity to advance to the NHL Eastern Conference Final.Washington dropped Game 1 at home by a 3-2 margin, as Nick Bonino scored for the Pens in the third period to break a 2-2 tie.The Caps are once again chasing the Penguins, who bring star power and superior speed to the ice on a regular basis. In addition to Crosby, superstars Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel have a chance to fill the net.In addition to those stars, head coach Mike Sullivan knows that supporting players like Jake Guentzel, Bryan Rust and Bonino are capable of rising to the moment and finding the back of the net when the game is on the line.Here's a look at the fullconference semifinal schedule:One big difference this year is the presence of veteran goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who played every game in the opening series against the Columbus Blue Jackets, as well as the opener against the Capitals. Matt Murray, the rookie hero of last year's Stanley Cup run, injured himself prior to the first game against Columbus, and Fleury has been in net since.Fleury has played well in the postseason (2.43 goals-against average and .934 save percentage), but he had a shaky regular season and has had a checkered postseason career, so there are no guarantees he will continue to produce.The goalie says he is not trying to prove anything."Ahh, I don't know," Fleurysaid, per Joe Starkey of thePittsburgh Post-Gazette."I'm not here to 'prove.' I just wanna enjoy it, enjoy my time and try to win some games. I want to battle for these guys, who've been great to me, and put some wins together."The pressure will clearly be on the Capitals when the teams take the ice Saturday night. They played fairly well throughout the majority of Game 1, but Pittsburgh's speed advantage was apparent on the game-winning goal,as Bonino broke away from the Washington defense before snapping the puck by goalie Braden Holtby.The Caps are deep and talented, with Nicklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov, T.J. Oshie, Kevin Shattenkirk and John Carlson in addition to postseason star Justin Williams, and they could reverse the Game 1 result and turn the series in their favor.The Penguins and Caps will face off at 8 p.m. ET, and NBC will televise the game.Before that meeting, the New York Rangers will try to even their series with the Ottawa Senators after losing the opening game by a 2-1 margin.Superstar defenseman Erik Karlsson scored the winning goal in Game 1 Thursday night when he fired a bad-angle shot off goalie Henrik Lundqvist and into the net late in the third period.Karlsson was the big difference between the Senators and the Boston Bruins in the opening round, and New York head coach Alain Vigneault has to find a way to contain Karlsson's speed and creativity or the Rangers could be in trouble.The Swede excels at setting up teammates like Mike Hoffman, Kyle Turris and ex-Ranger Derick Brassard with scoring opportunities, and he is also capable of scoring himself.The Rangers rely on Lundqvist and timely goals from Rick Nash, Mats Zuccarello and former Senator Mika Zibanejad for their success.Lundqvist would seem to have an advantage over Sens counterpart Craig Anderson, but the Ottawa goaltender has played well so far in the playoffs. Anderson has a 1.81 goals-against average with a .930 save percentage in the postseason, and he appears to be up to the challenge of his battle with Lundqvist.The two Western Conference playoff series will resume Sunday, and the Anaheim Ducks are in big trouble.After sweeping the Calgary Flames in the opening round, they are trailing the Edmonton Oilers 2-0 after losing the first two games of the series at home. The series resumes in Edmonton on Sunday night, and the Oilers' Leon Draisaitl is leading the way in scoring, with seven points.Edmonton captain Connor McDavidwon the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer with his 100 regular-season points, but he has been held to five points in eight postseason games. However,McDavid could come up with an explosive effort at any time.The Ducks need Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Ryan Kesler to assert themselves if they are going to turn the series around on the road.The St. Louis Blues squared their series with the Nashville Predators at 1-1 when Vladimir Tarasenko scored in the third period Friday night to give the Blues a 3-2 victory.Both of these teams are nasty, aggressive and hard-hitting, and this series has the look of one that could go seven games. The series resumes in the Honky Tonkon Sunday afternoon.
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