The Washington Capitals take on the Florida Panthers tonight in Game 1 of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It is David vs. Goliath as the Panthers are ranked with the number one seed and secured the President’s Trophy for the league’s top points. The Caps clinched the second wild card spot, pitting them against the top seed.
This marks the first time these two teams have met for a playoff series. Florida was the only Eastern Conference team the Caps have not faced in a playoff series. Needless to say, anything can happen.
The Panthers are loaded. They got young stars such as Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau, and Aaron Ekblad. They also added Anthony Duclair and Sam Bennett and acquired Claude Giroux at the trade deadline.
The Caps need to shut down the league’s top offense. While they aren’t the best on special teams (still top 5 in the power play) they are a dangerous team at five on five. If the Caps get behind by a lot early, they’ll be in big trouble. If the Caps can at least split two games out of Florida, they’ll be in good shape the rest of the series.
The Caps will go with Vitek Vanecek in goal tonight while the Panthers will counter with Sergei Bobrovsky. Vanecek earned the playoff start in a battle that took all season to decide. But if this series goes south early, Ilya Samsonov and Zach Fucale will be waiting.
The Panthers led the league with 338 goals this season, being the first team in the salary cap era and first since 1995-96 to average more than four goals per game. 14 players are in double digits while four players have reached 30 goals.
If the Caps can slow down the Panthers fast game with their physical play I think this series is going to be close. Like I said, I think the Caps split in Florida, they tend to play better on the road. In fact, I think they’ll split at home too and make the series 2-2 heading into a pivotal Game 5.
This is where the Caps will rise to the occasion and the Panthers will falter. They’ll steal Game 5 in Sunrise and lock up the series at home in Game 6. So that’s my final prediction for this series: Caps in 6.
Game 1 is tonight at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN 2 and NBC Sports Washington. Should be a very entertaining series.