The Washington Capitals clinched their place in the second round following a 1-0 win over the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 6 of their first round match-up stopping the Flyers from winning three in a row and potentially "reverse sweeping" them. The game wasn't the best but the Capitals have the strongest goaltender in the league behind them.
In the regular season the Penguins bested the Capitals in the series 3-2 with 16 goals in those 5 games to the Capitals 13. The second game in the series, a 4-1 loss on the 15th of December, was one of Mike Sullivan's first games as the Penguins coach. The team has improved a lot since that point and really gotten rid of the issues that were prevalent under Mike Johnston.
The goaltenders will be the biggest key in this series with the latest, hot young thing in Matt Murray going up against the leagues best this season in Braden Holtby. Both have been lights out in their respective series so far. Holtby finished with a 0.84GAA and .968SV% through his 6 games whilst Murray finished with a 1.33 GAA and a .955SV%. .
Their is a question about whether Holtby can continue his performance against a stronger offensive team in the Penguins that was one of the top scorers in 2016. There's no denying that Holtby's performances so far have been exceptional in the playoffs. However, the Flyers were anaemic in their offence and only managed to score 6 goals in the whole series. The Penguins a speedy team and have regularly taken over 30 shots in their series.
Even when the Penguins had fewer than 30 shots, like in Game 5 where they had 28, they have taken them. They reduced an elite goaltender in Lundqvist to rubble and had him pulled in two consecutive games so they won't be phased by a stronger goaltender like Holtby.
For the Penguins, the big question is whether Murray can continue his good form and if they need to start Fleury if he is healthy and ready to play. Personally, I would continue to play Murray, even with Fleury is healthy. Keep him as back-up until Murray struggles or needs a rest. Murry has won the last 10 games hes completed and more than shown that he is a competent replacement for Fleury going forward. The Rangers were a big test and he came up trumps.
Special teams will play a big part in this series. For as long as the Capitals have Alex Ovechkin their power play will be deadly. He is dominant on it and if the Penguins want to improve their chances of winning then they need to make sure that if they do give away penalties, they prevent him from getting shots off.
However, the Penguins boast the 5th best Penalty Kill in the play offs so far at 89.5% and they successfully prevented the Rangers for large parts of their games in Madison Square Gardens. A strong PK can really frustrate the opposition and cause mistakes to seep into their games. Their penalty kill will need to continue to be strong.
In all, this series is going to be unpredictable and it is impossible to call as anything could happen. I just hope that the Penguins win it as I think whoever wins this has a superb chance of going to the Stanley Cup as the representative from the Eastern Conference.
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