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Pre-Game Talk: (3) Washington Capitals VS (6) New York Rangers (Schedule in Post #1)

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Yea the Capitals are hot right now but they can go cold in the playoffs. Nothing is guaranteed. We mostly handed it to them this season, even if it was before their hot streak. I feel like we have a real chance in a series against them while I felt like facing the Bruins or Montreal we would have had to hope to get lucky. Getting the momentum in this series will be the key to winning and staying out of the penalty box.
 
The people who are still on the "Trade Staal for Futures" bandwagon are clueless.

Yeah, our defense has been great without him!

We will need him in this series.
 
Just hope Staal can have an impact. Jumping straight into a playoff game without playing in however long is worrisome.

Don't expect him to shutdown AO. McD is really going to have to step up here.

Predicting Moore and Stepan have a monster series while Richards picks up the slack for the rest of our roster.
 
4 series in five years, then we're division rivals. Seems fitting.
 
Kershaw said:
Best PP in the NHL.

Top 5 offense

Ovechkin is currently the best healthy player in the world.

Backstrom is a top 10 center.

Brouwer has 2nd most goals after Ovie the past month IIRC.

Riberiro is a PPG elite playmaking center

Erskine crease clearing D-man.

Much better depth: Erat, Laich, Johansson, etc.

Their defense is far better than ours without Staal. Green, Carlson, Alzner > McDonagh, Girardi, Del Zotto.

Holtby has .930+ sv percetange past 2 months.

25-10-2 their last 37

It'll be a series only because of Lundqvist, otherwise they'd probably sweep us.

They were only mediocre early the year because Oates new coach and he implemented the same system the Devils had. The same system last year that ousted our team in the playoffs. The same system that wore out all our players. Same system that got Torts heavily outcoached.
Click to expand...

The Caps offense centers around Ovechkin. He is their legit goal scoring threat. Backstrom can be very dangerous but he's more a set up guy. Ribeiro and elite--seems some kind of mismatching of player and definition--but again another set up guy.

Their defense is not better than ours and neither is their goalie. That doesn't mean that like last year Holtby won't play over his head again but no way in the world would I choose Green, Alzner, Carlson, Erskine, Hillen and Olesky over Staal, Girardi, McDonagh, Del Zotto, Stralman, Moore or even Girardi, McDonagh, Del Zotto, Stralman, Moore and Eminger.

If the Rangers contain Ovechkin they're not going to have a lot of offense. The Rangers can make life easier for themselves by staying away from the penalty box. If they do that I think the Caps are going to have a real problem creating offense. The Rangers d--especially if Staal is back is very good at containing scoring threats especially when the other team only has one guy to worry about and we've watched Ovechkin over the years go head to head with Staal, Girardi, McDonagh and have problems scoring goals or at all even when the Caps were deeper in other threats like when they had Sergei Fedorov, Alexander Semin and a more dangerous than he is today Mike Green.

The Caps may also have injury concerns. Brooks Laich did not play tonight. He's only played 9 games this year. He's been a key player for them against us over the years. Joel Ward did not play either. Jason Chimera only scored 3 times this season--none of this means that these guys are not going to be factors but anyone thinking or saying this is a far superior team is out to lunch. They are very beatable and hopefully that is exactly what our time will do--beat them.
 
Our latest streak has been mostly smoke and mirrors... Theirs wasn't.

I think we have a real chance though... Especially if we get some injured players back... Most notably Staal. That would be HUGE!!!
 
I hope we get Staal back but I really hope he's in good form. When he missed time last year he came back in January but it wasn't until the playoffs that he really returned to form. I'm afraid that even if we get him back for the playoffs he won't be nearly as effective as we need him to be.
 
Upon cursory glance, Washington has had a good record over the last half of the season, but looking closer at their schedule, they really beat up on non-playoff teams in March + April. Benefit of being in the SE, I suppose.

I like this match up for us.
 
You can tell its playoff time. The heavy homers and the doom and gloom is out on both sides. And both threads are filled with "I'm so bored with playing Carps/Rags"

Keep OV frustrated and you guys will have a good shot. If he gets rolling the team will feed off him and you may be in trouble.

I suspect you will see an OV you have not seen in a few years. I am not sure what it is he lost for two years. But what ever it is its back in big way.

A lot of people are says "The Caps were only a point better in a weaker division" This is true but for the Caps this has been two seasons. They were also close to 10 points behind you guys at the break. And have been a diffident team the past month.

I hope to see Stall on the ice for game.
 
Washington went 27-18-3, we went 26-18-4. They were 3-0 in the shootout, we were 4-4. That's about as even as it gets.

Its the fact that they score on better than one out of four power plays that concerns me. Lethal.
 
Mr Gone said:
You can tell its playoff time. The heavy homers and the doom and gloom is out on both sides. And both threads are filled with "I'm so bored with playing Carps/Rags"

Keep OV frustrated and you guys will have a good shot. If he gets rolling the team will feed off him and you may be in trouble.

I suspect you will see an OV you have not seen in a few years. I am not sure what it is he lost for two years. But what ever it is its back in big way.

A lot of people are says "The Caps were only a point better in a weaker division" This is true but for the Caps this has been two seasons. They were also close to 10 points behind you guys at the break. And have been a diffident team the past month.

I hope to see Stall on the ice for game.
Click to expand...

We generally do a good job on AO. He'll get his goals in all likelihood, but will do a good job of containing him.
 
I remember in 2011 Rangers won the season series against the Caps 3-1. Two of those wins were by the scores of 7-0 and 6-0. Rangers lost that series in 5.

If Staal comes back (and I think he's going to be back) Rangers defense can match up with anyone. And I think Dorsett will be back too. If Clowe or Boyle recover in time the Rangers will have depth. Boyle has really come into his own as a 3rd line winger, and he can help of faceoffs and he's a terrific PKer.

Richards has found a rhythm, which can really be dangerous for teams.

If the Rangers play to their potential and 3 lines can consistently score, I see no reason why the Rangers can't win this series.

Rangers in 6
 
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