Washington Capitals: Top 3 final predictions for Stanley Cup Playoffs
Top 3 final Washington Capitals playoff predictions.
The Washington Capitals are back in the Stanley Cup playoffs but in a unique tournament that will be unprecedented with August hockey. They’ve spent a week inside the bubble in Toronto and played one exhibition game where they came out on top 3-2 over the Carolina Hurricanes.
Alex Ovechkin got things started with a goal right from the office to put the Caps up 1-0. Vincent Trochek tied it before the Caps retook the lead on a goal from Evgeny Kuznetsov that was a tic tac toe of sorts from Dmitry Orlov to Ovechkin to Kuznetsov.
Ovechkin added his second goal of the game in the second period off a pass from Tom Wilson to put the Caps up 3-1. The Canes got one back in the third but the Caps would hang on.
Braden Holtby got the start in goal for the first two periods and stopped 12 of the 13 shots he faced. The team gave way to Vitek Vanecek in the thrid as he made 13 saves on 14 shots.
Now that the exhibition is over it’s time to shift to the real thing beginning Monday against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Here are our 3 final predictions before the quest for the Stanley Cup continues.
#3 Braden Holtby will play like his old self
Braden Holtby will get the start in goal in Monday’s Round Robin game and has an impressive playoff resume. On Wednesday Holtby played in the first two periods of the exhibition game. Holtby stopped 12 of the 13 shots he faced.
Prior to the season suspension, Holtby was on pace to record his sixth consecutive season with at least 30 wins, which would have made him the 10th goaltender in NHL history to accomplish that feat and one of just three active goaltenders (Henrik Lundqvist and Ryan Miller each had seven consecutive seasons from 2005-06 to 2011-12).
Holtby enters the playoffs already as the franchise leader in playoff wins with 48, a save percentage of .928 and a goals against average of 2.09. Additionally, Holtby’s .928 playoff save percentage is the highest in NHL history among goaltenders with at least 60 games played, while his 2.09 goals against average is tied for fourth in NHL history (Turk Broada 1.98, Dominik Hasek and Martin Broudeur 2..02, Chris Osgood 2.09).
Holtby’s record before the season was paused was 25-14-6 in 47 starts. His playoff record is 48-41 including a 22-16-7 record in the best playoff run in franchise history that included an iconic save that is still talked about to this day.
#2 The power play will be fixed
Fixing the power play will be critical to playoff success for the Capitals. That’s exactly what they’ll do. It’ll return to form the way it was in the early part of the season when the Caps dominated the NHL.
At the turn of the calendar the power play dipped. They ranked 17th at the pause with a success rate of 19.4 percent. One suggestion we think will help the Caps power play improve is by bringing up Jakub Vrana to the first unit. Perhaps his goal totals will go up if he got more time on the power play.
The Caps went 2 for 23 on the man advantage in the final 10 games before the season was suspended. That is an 8.7 percent success rate.
Expect to see a regular rotation of players on the power play and if things don’t click a shakeup could be possible. The Caps did score on the power play in the exhibition game against the Carolina Hurricanes from none other than Alex Ovechkin from his office in the left face-off circle.
This is an Alex Ovechkin Goal in July#ALLCAPS #Gr8 pic.twitter.com/bu773Bk7RT
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) July 29, 2020
The power play went 1 for 5 overall in the exhibition after failing to score the next four times. Even so it was good to see a PPG from Ovi.
#1 The Caps have a legit shot at winning the Cup again
The Round Robin tuneup will be solid instead of having to worry about the stress of the qualifiers. For instance, look at the Pittsburgh Penguins who are already down 1-0 to the Montreal Canadiens. The Round Robin presents an opportunity for the Caps to go either 2-1 or 3-0 which would be the best case scenario.
Round Robin games will be like regular season games with a chance to tune up the lineup before the grind of the playoffs is set to begin. The rules will be like the regular season with 3-on-3 overtime hockey and a shootout. The Qualifying Round will be sudden death overtime.
The statistics will count towards the playoffs and the Caps will begin today against the Tampa Bay Lightning, continue on Thursday against the Philadelphia Flyers before the Round Robin concludes Sunday against the Boston Bruins. The Flyers defeated the Bruins in the first Round Robin game on Sunday.
We think the Caps will go 2-1 in the Round Robin and lock in the second seed. From there they’ll go all the way to win the Cup in what will be a fun and unprecedented journey.
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Those are our three predictions. Enjoy the August hockey Caps fans.