One more opponent the Washington Capitals will see, we’ll look at.
The Washington Capitals will begin the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs in a Round Robin format to determine who they’ll seed up against based on what happens in the Qualifying Round.
If you missed our look at the other two opponents you can read up on the Boston Bruins here and the Tampa Bay Lightning here. Today we’ll look at the third and final opponent the Caps will see in the Round Robin, the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Flyers will be a scary opponent the Caps will face in the playoffs but the biggest question facing this matchup is if the long pause from the regular season to the playoffs cooled off the red hot Flyers?
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The Flyers finished fourth in the Eastern Conference with a 41-21-7 record with a .645 point percentage, just .7 points behind the Caps in the standings. The Flyers went on a nine game winning streak until they fell to the Bruins in their final game before the season was paused. They also took the regular season series against the Caps, winning three of their four games.
The Caps took the first meeting in Philadelphia back in November winning 2-1 in a shootout before the Flyers won the next three meetings. They edged the Caps 3-2 in January, put a beating on them in February at Capital One Arena, spoiling Ovechkin’s chance at 700 goals in front of the home crowd in a 7-2 win, and then won 5-2 in Washington’s last home game before the season was paused. Needless to say, this is a revenge opportunity for the boys in red.
So how can the Caps get payback on the Flyers you may ask. The answer lies in the offense showing up and the defense stepping up. The offense wasn’t there in those last two meetings on home ice and Alex Ovechkin and company need to play better.
The good thing is they’ll have neither the pressure of a home crowd or the intimidation that comes with being the visitors in Philadelphia to begin with. Vegas will be a neutral site and the Caps will have “home” edge in a last change since they’re seeded higher.
The Flyers are led in scoring by Travis Konecny with 24 goals and 61 points. They boast four players that have scored 20 or more goals this season. Kevin Hayes added 23, Sean Couturier has 22 and Claude Giroux has 21. Their defense features former Capital Matt Niskanen as well as Shayne Gostisbehere.
Goaltending is led by Carter Hart with a 24-13-3 record with a 2.42 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage. There’s no telling who the Caps will go with in this game, depends on if Ilya Samsonov gets a look against the Bruins or Lightning or not. If he does, it’ll be Braden Holtby vs. Hart most likely. If not, then it’ll be a fun matchup between two young goaltenders.
That’s it for our look at the three round robin opponents the Caps will face. Which matchup are you most excited for Caps fans?