Alex Ovechkin led the NHL with 56 goals this season. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

You could hardly blame the New York Rangers if they decide to concentrate on stopping Alexander Ovechkin when they visit the Washington Capitals Wednesday in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference quarter-final series.

Ovechkin, after all, won the Maurice (Rocket) Richard Trophy as the NHL's top scorer with 56 goals this season, and finished the campaign with 110 points, a mere three points behind Art Ross Trophy winner Evgeni Malkin.

The Russian sniper, considered by most pundits to be the most dangerous forward in the NHL, is a talent to be behold, able to single-handedly dictate the pace of the game with his super skills.

But Ovechkin is not the only offensive threat for the Capitals, and the Rangers would be well advised not to focus all of their attention on the Russian star.

Consider the evidence:

• Sophomore centre Nicklas Backstrom ranked second in scoring for the Capitals with 88 points, including a team-high 66 assists.
• Alexander Semin scored an impressive 34 goals en route to posting career highs in assists (45) and points (79).
• Blue-liner Mike Green had a breakout season, leading all NHL defencemen in goals (31) and points (73), both career highs. Green also made history when he set an NHL record for a defenceman by scoring in eight consecutive games.

Washington was the second-highest-scoring team in the NHL in the regular season, finding the back of the net 268 times during regulation and overtime, compared with the Rangers' 200 goals.

Stopping Ovechkin and his cohorts is a daunting task, but the key for New York might be to continue to employ the hard-hitting forechecking style that John Tortorella introduced since taking over as coach of the Rangers in February.

It's a strategy that worked — New York won 12 of 21 games since Tortorella took over from Tom Renney — so expect the Rangers to send skaters deep inside the Capitals' blue-line in order to put pressure on the Capitals and making it more difficult for them to launch their attack and get the puck up the ice.

"We crawled, scrapped, did everything we could to [make the playoffs] after we were written off a little bit there …" Tortorella told the Rangers' web site. "We bent, but we didn't break. We held together and found a way to get in. I'm really looking forward to getting this started now."

One player who is perfect for the role of agitator is Sean Avery, who pestered Ilya Kovalchuk in the first round of the 2006-07 playoffs when the Rangers swept the Atlanta Thrashers.

Cognizant of how Avery kept Kovalchuk in his back pocket, Tortorella could have him cover Ovechkin in this series.

"The last time Avery met a high-scoring Russian in the first round he drove him to distraction and the Thrashers went out in four," said Jeff Marek, host of Hockey Night in Canada Radio.

One thing that Rangers do have in their favour is goaltending.

Henrik Lundqvist has been solid for New York this season, while Jose Theodore has looked pretty shaky for Washington.

But Theodore has come up big in the playoffs before, and boasts a perfect 4-0 record in the first round of the playoffs in his career.