Barry Trotz on Alex Ovechkin guarantee: 'I love it'

— -- ARLINGTON, Va. -- Coach Barry Trotz says he has no problem with captain Alex Ovechkin's assertion that the Washington Capitals will eliminate the New York Rangers in the second round of the playoffs.

Indeed, Trotz said Monday: "I love it."

"I saw that, and that's what leaders do," Trotz said. "I think leaders say, this is what we need to do, this is what we're going to do. I think I have a lot more respect for someone who will be bold enough to say, 'I'm the leader of the hockey team, we're going to go there and give our best game, we're going to win the hockey game.'

"I'd rather have that than a leader go, 'Well, we're going there to lose.' I mean, come on. What do you expect a player to say?"

After New York beat Washington 4-3 Sunday night to force a Game 7 on Wednesday, Ovechkin boldly predicted that the Capitals would advance to the Eastern Conference finals.

"We're going to come back and win the series," Ovechkin told reporters. "We're going to play our game, and we're going to come back and we're going to play Montreal or Tampa."

Ovechkin's comments, which were less emphatic than those of former Rangers captain Mark Messier's guarantee before Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals back in 1994, were made after the team squandered its second opportunity to close out the series against the Presidents' Trophy-winning Rangers.

Ovechkin hasn't scored in the past four games, and the Capitals have let a 3-1 series lead disappear.

This will be the ninth time in Ovechkin's 11 career playoff series that Game 7 was required. The Capitals are 3-5 in those games.

ESPN.com's Katie Strang and The Associated Press contributed to this report.