Bruins vs Red Wings

NEW YORK -- On Ralph Macchio's Twitter timeline is a shot of the parking lot at Nassau Coliseum, the venerable building in the background with a close-up of a box of New York Islanders tissues.

A lifelong, die-hard fan, the actor most famous for his starring role in "The Karate Kid" was unable to attend the Islanders' regular-season finale at the Coliseum against the Columbus Blue Jackets, so he shared the photo to express his fandom, along with a hashtag drawn from a famous poem: #NothingGoldCanStay

Robert Frost's poem is featured in the 1967 novel "The Outsiders" and the 1983 film adaptation that starred Macchio and C. Thomas Howell. It was Howell's Ponyboy Curtis character who recited the poem aloud to his friend Johnny Cade (Macchio) while hiding out in an abandoned church.

Macchio saw an opportunity to link the hockey and cinematic worlds together to create his own poignant farewell to the 43-year-old Coliseum.

"'Nothing Gold Can Stay' is about youth," Macchio said. "It's about how times do change and situations do change. You just embrace those great moments. The 43 years at Nassau Coliseum will no longer be. There's the 'Nothing Gold Can Stay,' but you carry that legacy on. I thought that was a quasi-smart way of tying the movie I was in together with the team that I had rooted for."

ARLINGTON, Va. -- After missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season and failing to advance past the Eastern Conference Second Round in six previous appearances, the Washington Capitals believe they have what it takes to go all the way.

"I think we're optimistic that the style we play is more suited to the playoffs than we've ever had in the past," Washington general manager Brian MacLellan said.

When the Capitals host the New York Islanders in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference First Round series on Wednesday, they'll be looking to start writing a new page to their history.

Once regarded as a one-dimensional offensive powerhouse, Washington has earned a reputation across the NHL as a tough, hard-hitting team that's still a scoring threat.

"In the past we were maybe sort of a rush team," forward Brooks Laich said. "I don't think we're as high flying, high octane [an] offense as we once were, but I think we're a lot more difficult to play against this way. It should bode well for a sustained playoff run."

WASHNGTON -- When the Washington Capitals needed another center before the season started, coach Barry Trotz asked promising young forward Evgeny Kuznetsov.

Their top prospect played sparingly at center during his formative time in Russia, including a stint in the Kontinental Hockey League. Yet he eagerly accepted the challenge and has been key to Washington's late-season success.

"I know it's a little bit different [style of] hockey and a different mentality," Kuznetsov said. "I try to focus on the hockey."

Kuznetsov, 22, came to Washington in March 2014 after five seasons playing professionally in Russia. He had to adapt quickly to the smaller ice sheet and faster pace of North American hockey and had nine points in 17 games at the end of the 2013-14 season.

The two teams with the most points in the Eastern Conference are the two worst puck-possession teams among the eight still playing. The four best puck-possession teams have a combination of concerns, ranging from questionable goaltending to injuries to slumping underlying numbers.

The Washington Capitals have none of those concerns. They possess one of the best goaltenders in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Braden Holtby, and they have better puck-possession numbers than the Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers.

In a conference full of flawed teams, the Capitals lack glaring weaknesses. Because of this, they are best equipped to survive and win the Stanley Cup for the first time.

After several years as one of the top contenders for the Cup, the Capitals went through multiple coaches before Barry Trotz arrived. Trotz brought with him goaltending guru Mitch Korn, who has helped Holtby harness his considerable talent. Holtby has become a star this season and is one of the biggest reasons the Capitals could be primed to finally break through.

One of the great old Patrick Division rivalries is back on center stage in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in 22 years.

The Washington Capitals and New York Islanders haven't met in the playoffs since the 1993 Patrick Division Semifinals, a series most remembered for Dale Hunter's hit on Pierre Turgeon late in Game 6, which the Islanders won to eliminate the Capitals.

The Islanders have won five out of the six playoff series between the two teams, including three straight from 1983-85. New York won the Stanley Cup in 1983, the last of its run of four straight championships. The Islanders also advanced to the Final in 1984.

The Achilles' heel of the New York Islanders for the past decade has been goaltending and defense. But general manager Garth Snow bolstered each of those positions with offseason trades, which is why the Islanders will win the Stanley Cup.

The last time New York made the playoffs, two seasons ago, they were ousted by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round in six games, mainly because they allowed 25 goals, including at least four goals in five of the games.

In order to ensure that won't happen again, Snow traded for goalie Jaroslav Halak in May and signed him to a four-year contract. Halak rewarded that faith with an Islanders record for wins in a season and a half-dozen shutouts.

Left wing Anders Lee was the victim of a numbers game at the start of the 2014-15 season. Instead of being with the New York Islanders, he started the season in the American Hockey League with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

Lee took the demotion in stride and was back with the Islanders within two weeks. Since then, the 6-foot-3, 227-pounds forward has garnered consideration for the Calder Trophy as the NHL's top rookie; he finished second among first-year players with 25 goals.

"It's been a really good year," Lee said. "I think I'd be ecstatic to look where I'm at right now. If I asked myself if I'd be in this spot at the end of the year, would I be happy? I think absolutely. I think I'd take that. It was a little bit hectic at first, but things settled down and have fallen into place."

The memory of Brooks Orpik, the low-scoring Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman, eliminating the New York Islanders from the Stanley Cup Playoffs with an overtime goal at Nassau Coliseum in the spring of 2013 haunts John Tavares.

It's lingered for the Islanders captain, especially after he sustained a knee injury while representing Canada at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, which left him out of the equation as New York failed to qualify for the postseason last season.

"I think that's what you play for," Tavares said. "It was a series we probably felt we deserved a better fate, but in a few areas we weren't as good as Pittsburgh. We're a young team and I think we just want to keep pushing for that next level. Obviously, you want to win the Cup and you want to compete for it. Watching the playoffs as a kid, you see how much fun each and every round gets, and I think that's what drives everybody."

ARLINGTON, Va. -- Throughout the regular season, first-year Washington Capitals coach Barry Trotz noticed a trend in Alex Ovechkin's game.

"The bigger the stage, the bigger he plays," Trotz said earlier this month. "On the big stage, he's not afraid."

From the the 2015 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic at Nationals Park, to late-season trips to Madison Square Garden and Bell Centre, Trotz watched Ovechkin score key goals in big games.

Now as the curtain lifts on the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the League's biggest stage, Ovechkin is poised to take the leading role during what he hopes is a deep postseason run.