WASHINGTON CAPITALS VS. CAROLINA HURRICANES
Capitals: 48-26-8, 104 points, first in
Metropolitan
Hurricanes: 46-29-7, 99 points, fourth in
Metropolitan, first wild card
Season series: WSH 4-0-0; CAR 0-3-1
THE SKINNY
The Carolina Hurricanes were one of the most pleasant
surprises in the NHL, riding their relentless work ethic to their first Stanley
Cup Playoff berth since 2009. After the Hurricanes were 15-17-5 and 10 points
out of a playoff spot Dec. 29, they went 31-12-2 over the remainder of the
season to claim the first wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern
Conference.
Their 46 wins and 99 points are second-most in
Carolina/Hartford Whalers history behind the 2005-06 Hurricanes (52 wins, 112
points).
Carolina will face a difficult challenge against the
Washington Capitals, who finished first in the Metropolitan Division for the
fourth straight season and are seeking to repeat as Stanley Cup champions. The
Capitals won all four regular-season games against the Hurricanes (one in a
shootout) and enter the Eastern Conference First Round believing they know the
secret to success in the playoffs after winning the Stanley Cup last season for
the first time in their 43-season history.
With an average age of 26 years, the Hurricanes follow the
lead of their 37-year-old captain Justin
Williams, a three-time Stanley Cup winner including with Carolina in
2006, and first-year coach Rod Brind'Amour, who captained the 2006 Cup team,
and aren't satisfied with simply getting into the playoffs.
"It's been a little while coming for this team to
finally just put it all together and make everything fit," said Williams,
who played for the Capitals in 2015-16 and 2016-17. "We're a young team, a
very young team, but we've played enough games as a young team in the fact that
we're young but not young by experience in games played. So I like our
maturation this year."
GAME BREAKERS
Capitals: Forward Alex Ovechkin scored
51 times to win Rocket Richard Trophy as the NHL's leader in goals for the
eighth time and become the third player in NHL history with eight or more
50-goal seasons behind Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy, who each had nine. The
33-year-old led the NHL with 15 postseason goals last season on his way to
winning Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player in the playoffs.
Hurricanes: Forward Sebastian Aho set
NHL career highs in goals (30), assists (53) and points (83) before going cold
late in the season and not scoring a goal in his final 14 games. The
21-year-old had six points (three goals, three assists) in the four games
against the Capitals this season and has 17 points (eight goals, nine assists)
in 12 career games.
GOALTENDING
Capitals: Braden Holtby (32-19-5,
2.82 goals-against average, .911 save percentage, three shutouts) enters the
playoffs as the Capitals' unquestioned No. 1 this season after losing the
starting job to Philipp
Grubauer to open the first round last season. It took two games
before Holtby replaced Grubauer (now with the Colorado Avalanche) and went 16-7
with a 2.16 GAA, .922 save percentage and two shutouts during the run to the
Stanley Cup.
Hurricanes: Petr Mrazek and Curtis
McElhinney shared the net for most of the season, but Mrazek
emerged as Carolina's No. 1 heading into the playoffs by going 11-2-0 with a
1.68 GAA, .944 save percentage and two shutouts in 13 starts since Feb. 16. In
11 NHL playoff games (10 starts) with the Detroit Red Wings and the
Philadelphia Flyers, Mrazek is 4-6 with a 1.98 GAA, .927 save percentage and
three shutouts.
NUMBERS TO KNOW
Capitals: The Capitals had seven players with at
least 20 goals: Ovechkin (51), T.J. Oshie (25), Jakub Vrana (24), Tom Wilson (22), Nicklas
Backstrom (22), Brett
Connolly (22) and Evgeny
Kuznetsov (21). They were last in the NHL on face-offs, winning
45.7 percent, but the Hurricanes weren't a lot better at 49.0 percent (24th in
NHL).
Hurricanes: They led the NHL in averaging 34.4
shots on goal per game while giving up 28.6 shots per game, which were the
third fewest. Carolina's penalty kill was eighth at 81.6 percent, including
8-for-10 (80 percent) against the Capitals. Williams has 94 points (36 goals,
58 assists) in 140 playoff games.
INJURY REPORT
Capitals: Defenseman Michal Kempny had
surgery Tuesday to repair a torn hamstring in his left leg sustained against
the Tampa Bay Lightning on March 20. Washington estimated his recovery time at
4-6 months.
Hurricanes: Defenseman Calvin de
Haan sustained an upper-body injury against the Pittsburgh
Penguins on April 1 and missed Carolina's final three regular-season games. His
status for the start of the playoffs is unknown.
WILL WIN IF.
Capitals: Kuznetsov is as dominant as he was
when he led the NHL with 32 playoff points (12 goals, 20 assists) last season.
He's had good stretches this season but was erratic and dropped from an NHL
career high 83 points (27 goals, 56 assists) last season to 72 (21 goals, 51
assists). His performance is also a key to the Capitals' inconsistent power
play, which finished at 20.8 percent, but went 3-for-25 (12 percent) over the
final 10 games.
Hurricanes: Aho regains his goal scoring touch
and they get enough depth scoring. Four forwards scored 20 goals: Aho (30),
Williams (23), Teuvo
Teravainen (21) and rookie Andrei
Svechnikov (20). Carolina also will need Mrazek to maintain his
late-season level of play against Washington's deep offensive attack.
HOW THEY LOOK
CAPITALS PROJECTED LINEUP
Alex Ovechkin -- Evgeny Kuznetsov -- Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana -- Nicklas Backstrom -- T.J. Oshie
Carl Hagelin -- Lars Eller -- Brett
Connolly
Andre
Burakovsky -- Nic Dowd -- Chandler
Stephenson
John Carlson -- Nick Jensen
Dmitry Orlov -- Matt Niskanen
Brooks Orpik -- Christian
Djoos
Braden Holtby
Pheonix
Copley
Scratched: Jonas
Siegenthaler, Travis Boyd, Dmitrij
Jaskin
HURRICANES PROJECTED LINEUP
Nino
Niederreiter -- Sebastian Aho -- Justin Williams
Micheal
Ferland -- Jordan Staal --Teuvo Teravainen
Andrei Svechnikov -- Lucas
Wallmark -- Jordan
Martinook
Warren
Foegele -- Greg McKegg -- Brock McGinn
Jaccob Slavin -- Dougie
Hamilton
Brett Pesce -- Justin Faulk
Haydn Fleury -- Trevor van
Riemsdyk
Petr Mrazek
Curtis McElhinney
Scratched: Saku
Maenalanen
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