Washington Capitals: Game 1 Preview vs. Carolina Hurricanes

For the first time since hoisting the Stanley Cup over their heads, the Washington Capitals will take part in playoff hockey. They were the last team standing and on the second day of the postseason are one of the last teams the hockey world is waiting to see.

The Washington Capitals begin their quest to defend their title on Thursday night at Capital One Arena. The sold out, red clad, towel and glow stick waving crowd will create a home ice advantage that will only give the team a boost. Something has seemed different about the crowd all season compared to the one you saw a year ago in the first round. Like their team, the fans are confident because they know firsthand that the Capitals have done it before.

The Capitals hope to use that home ice to their advantage and have a better start than they did in the first round last year, where they fell 0-2 to the Columbus Blue Jackets before winning four straight games. Both of those first two losses came on home ice so in addition to the Cup, the Capitals want to protect their house. They’ve dominated the Hurricanes all season long, sweeping all four games in the regular season series. That included a back-to-back home-and-home set just two short weeks ago.

That doesn’t mean the Hurricanes are a team to take lightly. They have made hockey popular in the Carolina’s again probably for the first time it’s been this high since their Cup-winning team in 2006. We’ll have more on that in Game 3’s preview but as Andrew has pointed out, they’re a better team than you think.

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Sebastian Aho leads the Hurricanes with 30 goals and 83 points. Watch out for Teuvo Teravainen as well with 21 goals and 55 assists. The Hurricanes are also led by a veteran presence in Justin Williams, a Cup winner on that 2006 team as well as a former Capital in the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons with 23 goals and 30 assists. Carolina is backstopped by Petr Mrazek, who finished the regular season with a 23-14-3 record with a 2.39 GAA and .914 save percentage.

The Hurricanes finished with a 46-29-7 record for the first wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. The Capitals went 48-26-8 to win their fourth consecutive Metropolitan Division title, becoming the third reigning Stanley Cup champion to win their division since the 2003-04 season. After winning the Stanley Cup last season, the Capitals now embark on the challenge of repeating. Something easier said than done. The Capitals look to become only the fourth team in the last 30 years to go back-to-back.

Leading the way for the Capitals is Alex Ovechkin who led the NHL with 51 goals goals in 81 games. He finished just one goal ahead of Edmonton Oilers center Leon Draisaitl for the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy. Ovechkin won the award for the second season in a row and the eighth time in his career. The Capitals will go with Braden Holtby in goal, who has won each of his last five games. In that stretch, Holtby posted a 1.60 GAA and a .947 save percentage.

Puck drop on Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. You can catch the game locally on NBC Sports Washington or nationally on USA.