First Round Match-up – Montreal Canadians

The Caps have not performed well at the end of this season, but for the most part they have had the number one seed in the Eastern Conference for quite some time now.

The Capitals finished the season in a bit of a slump and lost eight of their final 12 games, but that can be excused as they where getting Alexander Ovechkin the all-time goal scoring record and resting players with the East’s top seed wrapped up while trying to get healthy going into the playoffs.

Meanwhile the Canadians have been in a dog fight with the Columbus Blue Jackets in order to make it into the playoffs, which they finally clinched on their last game of the season. The Canadians have an abundance of young talent including Captain Nick Zuzuki and Cole Caufield who will both be crucial players in this series if the Canadians are going to pull the upset.

The ace up the Canadians sleeve is recently brought in rookie player from Russia, Ivan Demidov, who had 2 points, a goal and a assist in his first game in the NHL. With many Canadians fans claiming his to be the second coming of Alexander Ovechkin. And now they will go head to head, and the last time Ovechkin when up against a young Russian forward in the playoffs, he knocked him out.

For the Caps, I think the key is going to be the goaltending, which has been very good all year. Logan Thompson started game one but looked rusty as he’s working back from an injury. If he is able to play well I think the Caps will have no problem handling the Canadians.

Dylan Strome and the ‘Great 8’ will obviously be crucial players on the offensive side of the puck, and if the Caps power play can get going this series, it will be over in no longer than five games.

I like the Capitals in five. I’m expecting that the home ice advantage could play a major factor in Game 3 and Game 4, leading to at least one Canadians victory. Even though the Canadians have been in that dog fight, they where not even playing that great, and had to beat a Hurricanes team that was resting most of, if not all, of their players on the final day of the season.

Prediction: Capitals in 5.

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