The Capitals are moving on to the Eastern Conference semifinals, having won the first playoff series under Bruce Boudreau that didn’t go the distance. He had led Washington through four seven-game series — winning only one — since becoming coach in 2007.
The Capitals hadn’t won a series in fewer than seven games since 1998, when they beat Buffalo, 4-2, on the way to their only appearance in the Stanley Cup finals. Their last loss in fewer than seven was to Tampa Bay in 2003.
While the players were intent on proving they can finish off an opponent, the fans were determined to win the shouting match with their New York counterparts. Rangers fans serenaded Boudreau with, “Can you hear us?’’ in Game 4 after he said the fans were louder in the nation’s capital.
“Can you hear us?’’ goes without saying in the always sold-out din located in the city’s Chinese quarter, so the Capitals fans alternated “Let’s go Caps’’ with “We are louder’’ and held up signs such as “No MSG in our Chinatown.’’
Wojtek Wolski scored in the waning seconds for the Rangers, who ended a season in which they barely made the playoffs as the No. 8 seed. New York’s offense was hardly one to be feared, and it was further depleted by the absence of second-leading scorer Ryan Callahan, who broke a leg in the final week of the regular season.
Washington dominated the first period, putting constant pressure on goalie Henrik Lundqvist and outshooting the Rangers, 13-6, and 13 more shots were blocked.
The onslaught produced the first first-period goal of the series, a power-play score that came when Green came to the side of the crease to poke in a rebound that deflected off Rangers defenseman Dan Girardi.
Green missed 26 of the last 28 games of the regular season with a concussion. He went down again in a scary moment yesterday, hit flush on the helmet by a shot from Rangers defenseman Matt Gilroy.
