It's just the second time the Washington Capitals and Tampa Bay Lightning have met in the playoffs, but the Southeast Division rivals have seen each other six times this season and players believe that familiarity will help.

Neither has had much time to prepare since Tampa Bay needed seven games - and a heck of a comeback from 3-1 at that - to advance. But there's tons of film on both sides, so there won't be a lot of surprises.

Advantage Caps?

One team flew into Washington Wednesday night for a Friday face-off and the other has been sitting around for five days. On one hand, Capitals left wing Marco Sturm said, he and his teammates are rested, but the Lightning have been in a rhythm of playing games. Give the edge to the Capitals, who will need to shake off some rust but will have fresher legs, especially if Game 1 goes into overtime.

Hart and soul

He may end up a distant third in the voting behind Daniel Sedin and Corey Perry (or Perry and Sedin), but Marty St. Louis was named a finalist for the Hart Trophy on Thursday following his 99-point regular season.

The Capitals know how dangerous St. Louis (31 goals, 68 assists) can be.

"He's one of those guys that are very shifty, he kind of goes all over the place," Washington defenceman Karl Alzner said. "It's not like he drives wide every single time, or he stops up every single time - he kind of changes things up all the time."

Back-to-back's

This past week it was a Lady Gaga concert at Bell Centre that prompted the Bruins and Canadiens to play back-to-back nights for Games 6 and 7. Next week it's the University of South Florida's spring commencement that will make life harder on the Capitals and Lightning. Games 3 and 4 are set for Tuesday and Wednesday because spring commencement ceremonies for the University of South Florida are taking place at St. Pete Times Forum on Thursday.

Roll over Roloson

On Feb. 4 at Tampa, Capitals forward Matt Hendricks bowled into Dwayne Roloson, and the Lightning goalie landed three good punches to Hendricks' head with his glove hand. It's hard to expect a repeat of that incident, but don't look for Washington to be easy on the 41-year-old.

"I don't know if I'm necessarily gonna run him over or hit him or do anything physical, but just get in front of him, make his life difficult, make it hard for him to see pucks, get traffic," Hendricks said. "Things that make goalies frustrated. Maybe if I get him frustrated, I'll get him off his game a bit."

Knuble still in doubt

Veteran right wing Mike Knuble skated with injured defenceman Dennis Wideman, healthy scratch D.J. King and the Capitals' "Black Aces" for a second straight day, making it seem unlikely he'll play in Game 1.

Bruce Boudreau expects Knuble, who suffered what is believed to be a hand injury in the Rangers series, to play at some point against the Lightning. With Knuble out, Brooks Laich is expected to remain on Washington's top line with Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom.

Chess match?

With Guy Boucher's vaunted 1-3-1 trap a major part of any game against the Lightning, Boudreau has a strategy but hopes this series doesn't become only a chess match between coaches.

"I'd rather the players be the ones that decide it; I don't want it to have to come down to me or Guy," Boudreau said. "They're the ones that play it, so they should. We won't be doing too [many] changes. We'll play the way that we play and hopefully it's good enough."

Biblical proportions

The Lightning went 2-3-1 against the Capitals this season and finished just four points back in the Southeast Division. But Boucher is casting his team in a major underdog role.

"They are Goliath and we are David, so we better get our slingshot ready," Tampa Bay's coach said.

Stephen Whyno covers the Capitals for The Washington Times. You can follow him on Twitter at @SWhyno.