R1: Washington Capitals (M1) vs. Montreal Canadiens (WC2)

[CarltonTheBear]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1912685105169965127

Montreal Canadiens (WC2) vs. Washington Capitals (1M)

Game 1: Canadiens at at Capitals, Monday, April 21, 7 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN, TVAS
Game 2: Canadiens at Capitals, Wednesday, April 23, 7 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN, CBC, TVAS
Game 3: Capitals at Canadiens, Friday, April 25, 7 p.m. ET; SN, CBC, TVAS, TNT, truTV, Max
Game 4: Capitals at Canadiens, Sunday, April 27, 6:30 p.m. ET; SN, CBC, TVAS, TBS, truTV, Max
Game 5: Canadiens at Capitals, Wednesday, April 30, TBD *
Game 6: Capitals at Canadiens, Friday, May 2, TBD *
Game 7: Canadiens/at Capitals, Sunday, May 4, TBD *

* If necessary

 

[Frank E]

Caps in 6.

 

[bustaheims]

Biggest mismatch of the playoffs. Habs just happy to be there. Caps in 5.

 

[dappleganger]

Closest Match of the playoffs. Montreal is way more dangerous than people realize with new addition Ivan Demigod in the fold. Montreal in 5.

 

[L K]

Capitals in 5. Montreal steals one of the first two games but they really didn't play all that well despite the record. Lots of games where they got outplayed and good goaltending bailed them out

 

[cw]

Caps, with Ovi's quest, really dropped off from Mar 1st
Habs really came on from Mar 1st and added Demidov at the end of the season.
Caps goaltending dropped off.
I doubt the Habs will beat the Caps but I think they'll put up a decent fight

 

[bustaheims]

Caps, with Ovi's quest, really dropped off from Mar 1st
Habs really came on from Mar 1st and added Demidov at the end of the season.
Caps goaltending dropped off.
I doubt the Habs will beat the Caps but I think they'll put up a decent fight

Didn’t help the Caps that Thompson got hurt, even though his play started to drop off, too. If he’s back and the time off helped him reset, that will be a big boost for them.

 

[cw]

Didn’t help the Caps that Thompson got hurt, even though his play started to drop off, too. If he’s back and the time off helped him reset, that will be a big boost for them.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1911802442611589319

There is a team defense issue.

They allege an upper body injury to Thompson in early April.
He resumed skating earlier this week but hasn't faced any shots.
And he'll start in top playoff form on Monday? I sincerely doubt it.

Their 30 goal scorer Protas isn't even skating yet.
Dmen Roy & Carlson are listed as day to day.

Montreal's only injury I've seen was to Kirby Dach at the end of the Four Nations Cup so his loss hasn't hurt them deeply and they have added Demidov

Since the Four Nations Cup:
Montreal .692 pts win% 3.15 GFA 2.65GAA
Washington .574 pts win%, 3.33GFA 3.41GAA

i can't recall many teams playing poorly defensively going very far in the playoffs.
As the Caps were able to do it before, one would hope they can turn it around but they've gone quite a stretch struggling.
Anything can happen in a playoff series but I think the Caps are going to have their hands full here.

 

[bustaheims]

The Caps definitely aren’t set up for a long run - I suspect they’ll lose badly in the second round - but their experience and overall talent advantage should propel them past the Habs relatively easily.

 

[Guru Tugginmypuddah]

Habs in 5.

 

[Ozzie]

Im cheering for Capitals but knowing the destiny of the Habs over the past 100 years, including colliding with it in 2021.... a Habs victory would not be surprising.

The Habs probably are better than their full season indicates. I think the knee on knee collision with an AHL level player of the Leafs of Cedric Pare in preseason play and Laine really deflated the spirit of the team in October to December. And then they caught momentum after Laine returned and showed their true ability during the second half of the season.

Molson family told me over Christmas the Habs might be "buyers" this trade deadline....so management already could see it......even though they were basement dwellers at American Thanksgiving (the mark when playoff predictions are cast).

And I think publicly there was some reports of Suzuki talking to management asking them to leave the roster as is because the locker room believed they had a run in them ......ie. not to trade away anyone. So this team is probably much better than a WC2 even before Demidov.

Washington in 6.