The Washington Capitals take on the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs beginning Monday night from Capital One Arena. Lets take a deep dive into the top 3 storylines heading into the series.
#3 Caps look to end first round woes
Since winning the Stanley Cup in 2018, Washington has been eliminated from the first round of the playoffs other than 2023 when they missed the postseason completely. They're in the best prime position since the Cup year to win at least a playoff round and they'll be looking to do just that.
Overall this is a good matchup for the Caps on paper but that doesn't mean you can't underestimate the Habs. While it looked for a bit of time that the Caps were going to win their fourth Presidents' Trophy, they struggled the last couple of weeks. Maybe it's a good thing to get the bad out of the way.
The Canadiens are like the Caps last year. Last season Washington had to play must win hockey for the final month to qualify for the postseason and that's what the Canadiens had to do to make it to the big dance. They haven't been to the playoffs since nearly winning the Cup in 2021.
#2 How will Alex Ovechkin perform after breaking Wayne Gretzky's record?
Alex Ovechkin did what many thought was impossible on April 6 when he bypassed Wayne Gretzky's record. As you can imagine, a huge weight is off his shoulders in that regard. That being said, can he continue his scoring prowess in the playoffs?
He can and he has a much better team around him than he did a year ago. In the first round sweep by the New York Rangers last season, Ovechkin was scoreless. Finding the back of the net shouldn't be an issue in this series.
Both teams met three times this season with the most recent game coming on Jan. 10. That was Montreal's only win in the three games as the Caps went 2-0-1. The Caps won the other two games outscoring the Habs 12-8 in that stretch. Aliaksei Protas and Tom Wilson had four points each while Ovechkin scored on each of his two shots he took in his two games after missing the contest in January.
#1 Payback from a haunting first round 15 years ago is on the line
Okay lets get it over with. Caps had a three games to one lead in 2010 but failed to win the three chances they had to end the series. Longtime fans remember this. The players themselves though shouldn't care too much. Where was Pierre-Luc Dubois in 2010?
In that series in 2010 the Caps won an epic Game 2 in the form of a Nicklas Backstrom overtime goal. That was the only positive highlight for the Caps that spring as Jaroslav Halak stopped everything in his path in Games 5, 6, and 7.
Thankfully we're in a different era now and none of that matters. What will make you feel better is that back in 2010 the Caps won the Presidents' Trophy with the NHL's best record. This year's squad didn't but almost did.