Washington Capitals: Top 3 bold predictions for Stanley Cup Playoffs
Top 3 bold Washington Capitals playoff predictions.
The Washington Capitals will begin training camp today as they finally take the ice as a full squad. Well sort of. They’ll be split into two groups, teams Blue and Red for workouts beginning today and running until July 25. The team will depart for Toronto on the 26th.
Group Blue will practice today at 10:50 a.m. while Group Red will go up at 1:20. Each session will take an hour long. The roster for Phase 3 is now released and includes 20 forwards, 10 defensemen, and four goalies. The Caps will play one exhibition game when they arrive in Toronto before beginning a three-game Round Robin schedule to determine seeding for the playoffs.
The Caps will face the Tampa Bay Lightning on Aug. 3, the Philadelphia Flyers on Aug. 6 and the Boston Bruins on Aug. 8. All other information including broadcast, start times, and the date and opponent for the exhibition game will be announced at a later date. All games from the Round Robin are considered part of the 2020 postseason.
The Caps finished first in the Metropolitan Division this season which marked their franchise record fifth division title. They are the eighth franchise in NHL history to win five straight division titles.
#3 The power play will improve
Our first prediction is that the power play will improve. It is vital that they do. What started out as one of the best in the league plummeted in the second half of the regular season. With weapons like Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, T.J. Oshie, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and John Carlson, they should be able to light the lamp night after night.
They did in the early part as they were ranked fifth in the league in games played through Nov. 30 with a success rate of 25.3 percent (22 for 87). After that they dropped to 30th at 15.5 percent (20 for 129). Todd Reirden tried numerous things to fix the power play including shifting Ovechkin from the left side to the right side.
In Washington’s final 10 games before the pause the team went 2-for-23, an 8.7 percent success rate on the power play. The addition of Ilya Kovalchuk at the trade deadline is expected to help. The first unit will likely include Oshie, Backstrom, Kovalchuk, Ovechkin and Carlson. The second unit will likely feature Tom Wilson, Kuznetsov, Lars Eller, Ovechkin, and Dmitry Orlov.
Overall the Caps rank 17th in the NHL on the power play with a success rate of 19.4 percent.
#2 Caps will go 2-1 in the Round Robin
The Caps will go 2-1 in the Round Robin earning themselves a #2 seed. They’ll beat the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first game, get a revenge win over the Philadelphia Flyers in the second game before falling to the Presidents’ Trophy winning Boston Bruins in the Round Robin finale.
My reasoning for this is simple. The Caps offense can match the Lightning’s and eventually outlast them. They’ve shown that against the Lightning not only all season long but in their 2018 Eastern Conference Final matchup that saw the Caps come out on top in seven games.
I’m especially looking forward to that Flyers matchup in the middle game of the Round Robin. They were one of the hottest teams in hockey before the season was paused and they downed the Caps on their home ice in the last two meetings. This will be a game the Caps will get up for and ultimately come out on top.
The Bruins and Caps will meet in a matchup that will come down to the number one seed but the Bruins will come out on top in that one. But that’s okay because the Caps are ready for this next prediction.
#1 The Caps will win this tournament and here’s how
After the Round Robin the Caps will have the number two seed entering tournament play where they’ll take on the #7 New York Islanders and former coach Barry Trotz. The Caps will come out on top in six games setting up a second round playoff series with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Penguins will have gone through the Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning up to that point. The Bruins will meet the Flyers in the other matchup. The Caps will beat the Penguins in seven games with Evgeny Kuznetsov and Alex Ovechkin connecting for the game-winning goal.
The Flyers will have upset the Bruins and the Conference Finals will feature two Metropolitan Division rivals. This will be a tough seven game series but once again the Caps will have grinded out a solid 60 minute Game 7 to win and advance to the Stanley Cup Final where the Colorado Avalanche and Andre Burakovsky will await.
The Caps will come out on top and win in six games. Alex Ovechkin will be awarded another Conn Smythe as playoffs MVP. He’ll have at least 16 playoff goals to his name, maybe 20 if he breaks out in the Round Robin.
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Those are our three bold predictions. What are yours Washington Capitals fans?