The Washington Capitals trail 2-0 in their first-round, best-of-seven series against the New York Rangers in the 2024 NHL playoffs. BetVirginia.com wanted to see how often an NHL team wins a playoff series when they’re in that situation two games into a series. We turned to ChampsorChumps.com to see the full history of teams that trailed 2-0 in a postseason NHL series, then we converted their percentages into odds, such as the ones you’d see at VA sports betting operators.
The Washington Capitals playoffs continue with Game 3 against the Rangers on Friday (7 p.m. Eastern) at Capital One Arena in D.C.
NHL Teams Down 2-0 In Playoff Series
Capitals Postseason History When Trailing 2-0
We should point out that the chart above encompasses all teams that have trailed 2-0 in any playoff series in NHL history, whether in a best-of-five or best-of-seven series.
A team trailing 2-0 in any series of any length has a 12.3% chance of winning in NHL playoffs odds history. That would translate to +710 odds at Virginia sportsbook apps.
Any long-time Capitals fan will know all too well the heartbreak of losing a best-of-seven playoff series after leading 2-0 (or even 3-1). Washington has squandered that lead six times in its postseason history, according to ChampsOrChumps.com data. Only the Boston Bruins and Detroit Red Wings (seven times each) have had it happen more, and those Original Six teams have been around much longer than the Caps.
But what about when the Capitals trail a series 2-0, as they do now? In 2018, they came back to win four straight against Columbus in the first round on their way to the franchise’s only Stanley Cup. Washington also pulled off the feat in 2009 – against the Rangers, no less – with a 2-1 Game 7 win in a first-round series. Those are the only two times the Caps have erased a 2-0 deficit to win a best-of-seven series in nine times when they have faced that situation.
BetMGM Virginia Sportsbook has +1300 odds on the Caps coming back to win this series. On paper, that’s a good value considering history; however, consider that the Rangers won the Presidents’ Trophy as the NHL’s top regular-season team with 114 points, 23 more than Washington.
NHL Teams Down 0-2: 7 Game Series Odds
Can Capitals Came Back In Series?
The data in the chart above is for best-of-seven series only. No surprise, the odds of a team coming back to win in a best-of-seven series after trailing 2-0 are better than in a best-of-five series. That’s why the odds in the chart above are better than the odds in the first chart (albeit only slightly, at +635, or 13.6% of the time). Caesars Sportsbook Virginia has the Capitals at +40000 NHL playoffs odds to win the Stanley Cup, the longest shot on the board.
Now that we have history out of the way, let’s look at this series. The Washington Capitals playoffs for 2024 continues with Game 3 at home, where they were 21-12-7 in the regular season. That included two wins over the Rangers, 4-0 on Dec. 9 and 3-2 on Jan. 13.
Dylan Strome, who led Washington in the regular season with 67 points (27 goals and 40 assists), is one of four Caps who have a goal through two games in this series. But captain Alex Ovechkin, second on the league’s all-time goalscoring list with 853, has not scored and only has one shot on goal.
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USA Today photo by Dennis Schneidler
