Once upon a time, during Bruce Boudreau's gloriously foul-mouthed tenure as head coach of the Washington Capitals, the go-to description of the team's style was "firewagon hockey." It's a fun phrase, and an even more fun brand of hockey: fast-paced, creative and totally geared toward putting offense first. What it isn't, though, is a reliable way to win in the playoffs.

Boudreau's Washington teams never advanced past the second round, and for that matter, neither has any Capitals team since he left. The Alex Ovechkin-era Caps had tried to undergo identity changes in the past -- Dale Hunter preached an aggressive defensive style that emphasized shot-blocking to an almost Tortorellian degree -- but nothing quite took. Until, it appears, this season.

There's a new buzzword in Washington this spring, and it's "structure." Read this or this or this or this. All use the same word, and say a version of the same thing: New coach Barry Trotz has installed a defensive structure that actually works, and more importantly has gotten the team to actually buy into it. The Caps still score plenty -- they tied for sixth in the league this year, and Ovechkin ran away with the Richard Trophy with 53 goals -- but Trotz has emphasized a more defensibly responsible game. Ovechkin, in particular, has committed to playing two-way hockey, and while he remains as explosive as ever, especially with the man advantage, he's come a long way from memes like this.

All of which is to say: With the Capitals and Rangers meeting in the playoffs for the fifth time since 2009, Washington has reason to believe it can pull off the upset. And after taking Game 1 at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night, it can be especially confident heading into Game 2 on Saturday.

* * *

The Capitals stole home-ice advantage in the first game of the series, and they did so in a particularly crushing manner. After they protected a 1-0 lead for more than 35 minutes of play, the Rangers tied the score with 4:39 remaining in the third period on a Jesper Fast deflection. As the seconds ticked away late in the third, the game looked like it was headed for overtime, but Ovechkin played to the buzzer, controlling the puck behind the Rangers goal and sliding a tricky pass in front to a wide-open Joel Ward, who slid the puck underneath Henrik Lundqvist to win the game.

Ovechkin's legs had been moving all night, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that the best player on the ice was responsible for setting up the most important moment of the game. But the specifics of it shocked and silenced the Garden crowd, which had begun to work itself back into a frenzy despite an uneven performance from the home team.

Meanwhile, Rangers coach Alain Vigneault was furious that a Nicklas Backstrom hit on Dan Boyle earlier in the game-deciding sequence wasn't called a penalty. (See for yourself here and here. I've watched it a hundred times so far, and I'm not convinced the hit is from behind, though I still can't tell if it's a hit to the head.)

GIF: rangers angry that this Backstrom hit was not a penalty. pic.twitter.com/aP4SmXKw7z - Stephanie Vail (@myregularface) May 1, 2015

GIF: does he hit him in the numbers? not exactly pic.twitter.com/jXPsdBFFiY - Stephanie Vail (@myregularface) May 1, 2015

The Caps entered this game looking to set the tone with physical play and avoid the run-and-gun hockey the Rangers excel at. They didn't execute perfectly. The Rangers at times were able to put together sustained pressure, and it led to their one goal. But at other times Washington frustrated the Rangers, who often looked out of sorts. As far as Game 1s on the road against the best team in hockey go, it was a pretty good one for the Caps.

* * *

As the teams look ahead to Game 2, both clubs have already gotten glimpses of what they'll need to do going forward. The Rangers, facing a much more impressive defensive team than they faced in Pittsburgh in the first round, know they won't consistently have the time and space to play the north-south game they'd prefer to play. They'll need to capitalize (pardon the phrase) when they do get those opportunities, but some of their best chances Thursday night came during chaotic sequences in front of Braden Holtby. If Washington plays the tight-checking game it wants to play, it'll be key for the Rangers to adapt.

It's also a good time for the Rangers to remember that for all of Ovechkin's goals and for all the talk of Trotz's "structure," they were a better offensive team than Washington this year, and a better defensive team, too, for that matter. There's a reason, after all, why they finished with the best record in the NHL. The Rangers have plenty to correct from Game 1. They turned the puck over up the middle too many times and passed up some shots they should have taken, while J.T. Miller had a game to forget.

But even without Mats Zuccarello, who's out indefinitely with an "upper-body injury" widely believed to be a concussion, the Rangers have a balanced offensive attack, and they're the deepest defensive team in the league -- while also playing in front of one of the game's elite netminders. Confidence will not be a problem for them in Game 2, even if they're no doubt aware that they're averaging the second-fewest goals (2.00 goals per game) of the 16 teams that qualified for the postseason. (Only the Penguins, whom they eliminated in five games, have averaged fewer goals per contest this spring.)

The Capitals, meanwhile, weren't perfect in Game 1 either, but they can focus on the aspects of their own game that worked. Their 1-for-2 power play was sufficient, thanks to a sick snipe by Ovechkin to open the scoring. Holtby was good when he needed to be, and Brooks Orpik made things miserable for Rick Nash, though he's hardly the first defenseman to do so in the postseason. They also forced the Rangers to take a lot of low-percentage shots from the perimeter, even though at times the Rangers cycled the puck nicely. Washington didn't get burned by the Rangers' potent transition game, but it'll want to prevent them from setting up in the offensive zone as much as they did Thursday.

Game 2 is never quite a must-win game, not when you have the kind of talent the Rangers do. Which is to say, even in a 2-0 hole, it wouldn't be inconceivable for them to win four out of the next five to advance. But a Game 2 loss would allow the Caps to return to their building up 2-0, firmly believing they could pull off the upset and finally reach the conference finals. Against Pittsburgh, the Rangers finally figured out how to play with urgency even when they had something of a cushion in the series. But now that they trail in their second-round series, one imagines they won't have much trouble playing with urgency on Saturday.