This series between the Rangers and Capitals could produce the first upset in the 2009 playoffs. Due to the fact that the Rangers have a solid goaltender in Henrik Lundqvist, and he can easily carry the Rangers into the next round of the playoffs. As for the Capitals, goaltending will be their Achilles heel, because Jose Theodore has never returned to the form that won him the Vezina and Hart trophies in one season.
Capitals Head Coach Bruce Boudreau thinks otherwise about his goaltending situation, but he needs to get real and get his team ready for a strong defensive effort, night in and night out.
Washington sort of holds a trump card, a guy named Alexander Ovechkin who has done nothing but score, and then score a little more since joining the Capitals in 2005. He too can carry a team into the next round and will be relied on heavily to do so.
Last season a heartbreaking game seven loss in Washington, in overtime to the Philadelphia Flyers must still burn in the minds of all Capital players. The entire Washington roster must be strong because they cannot dwell on the past and get ready for the Rangers, and will know what to do better this time around.
Besides Ovechkin (56 goals, 54 assists), the Capitals do have other scorers on their roster in Alexander Semin (34 goals), defenceman Mike Green who scored 31 goals, and Nicklas Backstrom (66 assists). They will have to penetrate the Rangers’ defense, because they only allowed 218 goals. Ever since John Tortorella took over as head coach of the Rangers, the defense got better and the offensive game was rebuilt.
The New York Rangers have plenty of Stanley Cup championship experience on their roster in Scott Gomez with three rings and Chris Drury with one. The sad part about these two is that they both had sad seasons and have not impressed in their two seasons in New York so far. Really, now is the time for the Rangers to really make some noise and go deep into the playoffs, because of all the veteran players and their long contracts. The Rangers went all in, in the off season when they signed Markus Naslund and Wade Redden. Both have made improvements, but could be much better.
The Capitals must have a strong defensive game, even though some of the Ranger scorers struggled to score, but they will still be a handful. The addition of Nik Antropov was huge for the Rangers because of his size and scoring ability. For the Rangers, defensively they won’t have such a tall order to deal with. The Capitals proved that they could not play without Ovechkin in the games he missed, and if the Rangers could limit him, they will win this series. Of course goaltending, the Rangers easily win in that category (which is also their trump card), because that could be the deciding factor in this series.
SERIES PREDICTION --> THE NEW YORK RANGERS WILL WIN THIS SERIES ON THE BACK OF HENRIK LUNDQVIST AND IF THEY WIN AT LEAST TWO GAMES IN WASHINGTON.
*THE ONLY WAY WASHINGTON WINS THIS SERIES, IS IF THEY WIN GAMES 1 AND 2 TO OPEN THE SERIES.
The opinions and thoughts expressed in this or any other article written by 12nadnuk are of his thinking and what he thinks is correct or close to it in the sporting world. If there are any problems by anyone, 12nadnuk is open for rebuttal and what not, and honest criticism. There is also a comments section, so feel free to post what is on your mind about the article. Thank you for reading.
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