If the Washington Capitals were fully healthy, they would easily win this series in 4 or 5 games. But they’re not fully healthy. With Logan Thompson and Aliaksei Protas to miss time, it suddenly creates some issues for the Capitals. When it comes to goaltending once Thompson is back, I’m also very curious to see if Spencer Carbery keeps the rotation or plays one guy. While Caps fans may be scarred from 2010, Sam Montembault is not Jaroslav Halak. He’s not going to stop 131 of 134 shots to finish a series. If he does, hats off to him. Montreal isn’t a deep team. They have some good firepower but Pierre Luc Dubois, Tom Wilson and Connor McMichael are an excellent shutdown trio that should hold Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Patrick Laine in check. When the series shifts to Montreal, it’ll be interesting to see how Carbery gets the Caps’ shutdown line out against Montreal’s top line. Meanwhile the Caps don’t have one or two guys that can takeover a game, they are a deep team with plenty of depth scoring. The Caps should be able to use their experience and depth to move past Montreal. Caps in 6.
Being the top seed in the East, the first round should be a slam dunk for the Capitals. But as we’ve seen, there haven’t been many slam dunks in the playoffs for the Caps in any round, and with a few injured players and a recent record of 4-6, it’s hard to believe the Caps will simply revert to mid-season form and dominate the Canadiens.
That said, there’s no good reason to believe Montreal is the better team here, even if they play their hearts out and give the Caps a run for their money. The Caps aren’t going to sit back and think their record makes them the better team, but it might take a few games for them to find their groove. I’m expecting the Caps to win this series, but not without Montreal giving them a major wake-up call. Caps in 7.
It’s a rematch of the 2010 series, except without the President’s Trophy (which is a good thing). The Capitals enter this series coming off one of the most memorable seasons in franchise history. Not only do they have Alex Ovechkin, but they also have other difference makers like Tom Wilson and Dylan Strome. Losing Logan Thompson at the start of this series could hurt, so Charlie Lindgren will have to step up between the pipes. The Caps should still be fine unless Sam Montembault suddenly turns into Jaroslav Halak. Caps in 5.
