The President’s trophy winners host the Washington Capitals in the 1st round of the playoffs. The Panthers are coming in as huge favorites and why would they not be. They have a stacked lineup and are going to create a lot of problems for the Washington defense. The Caps have been the underdogs before so don’t count them out from beating the Panthers. This will be a hard fought series which kicks off Tuesday evening from the FLA Live Arena in Sunrise, Florida.
The Washington Capitals will have their hands full vs the Panthers but their team can beat Florida. Ovechkin is back and he’s going to play an important role on the power play. The Caps have to be careful in the defensive zone because Florida forecheck well and they create opportunities off turnovers. In this series, one of the Caps goalies has to step up. There is no room for error in the playoffs and the two goalies have to be sharp. Vanecek and Samsonov both will likely have the chance but one of them has to step up and become the number 1 for the playoffs. The player that I feel is going to change the complexion of this series for the Caps is Tom Wilson. He plays hard hockey and has shown he can be a goalscorer as well. I think he’ll be the game changer for the Caps. D.C plays the best team in the league and lets see how they do in this series.
The Panthers have no holes in their team. The back end is tough and the forwards create goals out of nowhere. Huberdeau is the best passer in the league and his 85 assists are amazing. They have the best goal differential in the league because they score a lot and don’t give up a lot. They dominate the whole game and keep pressuring the goalie. Their goaltending is good and Sergei Bobrovsky has had a fantastic season. They’re so exhausting to play against because they have the puck most of the time and drag the defense everywhere. To win, I believe that Florida has to just play their game and not get sucked up by the pressure. They have to play hard and make the Caps vulnerable. Can the Panthers defeat the 2018 Stanley Cup champions?
I think the Florida Panthers will win this series in 6 games. I don’t think the Caps will be able to compete with their speed and puck movement. The Panthers are the funnest team to watch because they score goals. They put shots on the net and keep pressing the other team. I don’t know how the Caps can beat them in this series. Florida has experienced players and Andrew Brunette will lead this team to the 2nd round.
The stars are on show in this series kicking off Tuesday. Can the Washington Capitals pull off the biggest upset of the playoffs or will the Panthers take care of business and eliminate the Caps? We’ll find out soon from the Sunshine State.
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