(My Sportsbook) - The second-seeded Washington Capitals have fought back from a three games to one deficit in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals and now get to host the New York Rangers in tonight's decisive Game 7 at the Verizon Center.

The seventh-seeded Rangers held leads of 2-0 and 3-1 in this series, but since New York won Game 4, the Capitals have rattled off back-to-back victories to even the best-of-seven set at three games apiece.

Washington has exploded for a total of nine goals in the last two games after getting shut out twice and scoring just eight times in the opening four tests of this series.

The Capitals have only rallied from a 3-1 series deficit to win on one occasion, the 1988 Patrick Division semifinals against the Flyers. Last year, Washington was able to force a seventh game after falling behind three games to one against Philadelphia, but lost the final test in overtime. The Caps are 1-5 all-time in Game 7 situations.

The Rangers are 3-4 all-time in Game 7s but won the last time they were in this situation, defeating Vancouver in the final contest of the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals. New York has also never lost a series in which it took three of the first four games in franchise history.

Washington, which is also trying to win its first playoff series since it made a run to the Cup Finals in 1998, recorded a 5-3 victory in Sunday's Game 6 clash at Madison Square Garden.

Former Ranger defenseman Tom Poti notched a goal and three assists to register a playoff career high in points and rookie Simeon Varlamov continued his strong play in net with 29 saves to lead the Capitals. Poti's goal was his second of the series, the first time he's had multiple goals in a playoff campaign over five previous appearances. His three assists were also a career playoff high.

Alex Ovechkin, Mike Green, Milan Jurcina and Viktor Kozlov also found the back of the net on Sunday for the Caps, who are just 1-2 at home in this series after going 29-9-3 at Verizon Center during the regular season.

Scott Gomez, Ryan Callahan and Marc Staal tallied the goals for the Rangers, who were just 17-19-5 as the visiting club this year.

Henrik Lundqvist, who was pulled after the second period in Game 5 after surrendering four goals on 14 shots, yielded five on 20 shots before getting yanked yet again after 40 minutes. Stephen Valiquette stopped both shots he faced in the third.

New York head coach John Tortorella served a one-game suspension on Sunday, but will be back behind the bench tonight. Late in Game 5, Tortorella became involved in a situation with fans at the Verizon Center. He squirted a fan with water, then threw a water bottle into the stands that struck another fan. Assistant coach Jim Schoenfeld guided the Blueshirts in Tortorella's absence.

While Tortorella was suspended for the previous game, the Capitals will be down a man for tonight's test thanks to another league sanction as Washington forward Donald Brashear was suspended six games for two separate incidents in Game 6.

The Caps' enforcer was suspended five games for his high hit on the Rangers' Blair Betts midway through the first period and was also handed a one-game ban for making contact with Rangers forward Colton Orr during pre-game warmups. Betts suffered a broken orbital bone as a result of the Brashear hit and will not play tonight.

Rangers forward Brandon Dubinsky also claimed that Washington's Shaone Morrisonn bit him in the arm during a scrum in Game 6, but the league apparently could not confirm this charge since no sanction was handed down.

In a surprising turn of events, the Capitals could have captain Chris Clark back on the ice tonight for the first time in three months. Clark, who last played on January 27, has been recovering from wrist surgery and is questionable for tonight's game. He had six points in 32 games this season and hasn't played in a postseason contest since skating for Calgary in Game 7 of the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals.

This marks the fifth time the Rangers and Capitals are meeting in the postseason after the clubs split the first four encounters. The last time the teams battled in the playoffs was in 1994 when New York disposed of the Caps in five games during the conference semifinals. That was also the year that New York last won a Stanley Cup title.

Washington won three out of four regular-season matchups against the Rangers this season.