Washington Capitals Playoffs: Top 5 reasons they will not win the Stanley Cup

#4 The Panthers are too good

The fourth reason is obvious to why this has the potential to be a first round exit. Like I said, I hope it doesn’t happen and I hope I’m wrong. But the Caps will be put to a tough test against the President’s Trophy winners.

Over on The Athletic (subscription required), the Panthers have the edge in series probability 84 percent to 16 percent. That’s… not good if you’re the Caps. They also write that this series is Florida’s to lose.

The Panthers won their first President’s Trophy this season. They are heavy favorites. They’ve blown away every franchise so far this season with a high octane offense. While the Caps are good on the road the Panthers won both their home matchups against the Caps.

The Caps lone win against the Panthers came on home ice behind an Alex Ovechkin hat trick. In one game, the Caps even blew a 4-1 lead. It was that game that scared me when it came to facing the Panthers.

You probably get it by now, the odds are stacked up against the Caps and only once in the last five years has a Presidents Trophy winner gotten knocked out of the first round.