Capitals put collapse in past, advance with win over Rangers

WASHINGTON | Sat Apr 23, 2011 6:08pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Led by Alex Ovechkin, the Washington Capitals dumped the New York Rangers 3-1 on Saturday to advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs and bury memories of last year's post-season collapse.

An inspired Ovechkin set up Washington's first goal then scored the second as the Capitals wrapped up their best-of-seven quarter-final 4-1 to join the Detroit Red Wings in the second round.

A year ago, the top-seeded Capitals had been in the same commanding position, leading the Montreal Canadiens 3-1 before suffering one of the most stunning collapses in the Stanley Cup playoffs as they lost three straight to be bounced from the opening round.

But this season there would be no letdown as Ovechkin, Mike Green and Alexander Semin provided the offense while netminder Michal Neuvirth turned in another outstanding effort handling 27 shots.

Czech Neuvirth narrowly missed out on his second shutout of the series when Wojtek Wolski scored with 32 seconds to play.

(Writing by Steve Keating in Toronto, Editing by Mark Lamport-Stokes)

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