NHL Stanley Cup Finals Preview

Written By: Mitch McCombs

Sunday, May 27th, 2018

Vegas, Washington Both Seek to Win First Title In Franchise History

Who would’ve ever thought; a Washington Capitals and Vegas Golden Knights Stanley Cup final round. Alexander Ovechkin, after 13 years in the league, finally makes it to the Stanley Cup Finals, while the Marc-André Fleury led Golden knights, make it in their inaugural season.

 It’s going to be a good, hard fought round for both teams. It’s going to come down to if the Capitals can expose the Golden Knights defense, and if the Golden Knights can put enough pressure on the firing Capitals and keep it in the offensive zone. Firing shots on Holtby, forcing him to be near perfect is going to be crucial to keep them in these games. He has been solid this post season with a goal against average of 2.04 and a save percentage of 92.4%

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The Capitals have been amazing while on the road during the playoffs, clinching all three of their series on the road in Columbus, Pittsburgh, and now in Tampa. They will face a new challenge when facing the Golden Knights in the “fortress”, which opposing players have said is one of the loudest places to play. 

The Knights have only lost 1 game at home during the playoffs this year. The Capitals will need to play hard and fast right off the bat and make the Knights force passes. Kuznetsov and Ovechkin need to work their magic against Fleury if they want to have a chance to win this series, playing like they did in games 1, 2 and 7 against the Lightning if they want to intimidate the Knights. They can’t get caught up chasing the Vegas' Golden Boys, or the Knights will punish them for it. Their need to capitalize on the power play, the second highest in the playoffs at 28.8%, is imperative for the Capitals if they want to come away with with the series. They need to play up to that stat and try to punish the Knights penalty kill, which is 4th highest in the playoffs. It’ll be a match up worth keeping an eye on.

If the Knights want to come out on top of this series and win the cup, they need to keep playing like they have  throughout the playoffs. They can’t play like they did in game 2 of both round 1 and 2 and game 1 of the conference final round, or their fairy tale inaugural season will risk an unhappy ending. They just need to play sharp defensively and fast like they are known to be. Fleury has been amazing all postseason long with a .947 save percentage and a 1.68 goals against average, having to bail them out of a lot of games they’ve been slow and sloppy in. The Knights first line needs to keep playing and punishing defenses like they have done throughout these playoffs. Brooks Orpik has the highest plus minus during the playoffs at a +15, therefore, all four of the Knights lines need to keep producing on offense and defense like they have to this point.  Key factors are in stopping Kuznetsov (24 points) and Ovechkin (22 points), who are 1st and 2nd in leading points respectively during this postseason. The defense might have a hard time trying to stop that line but they did a good job holding the Winning Jets’ Blake Wheeler to hardly anything, as well as Patrick Laine, and the Jets forward group at large. The major challenge for the Knights is if they can hold up against the Caps 1st and 2nd offensive lines.

With how these 2 teams have been playing, I see the Golden Knights winning the cup in 6 games. The Knights have been a force to reckon with in the postseason with only 1 loss at home and 2 losses when playing on the road. I feel the Capitals will put up a good fight but it won’t be good enough, and the Golden Knights “Cinderella Story” could come to a happy ending winning the Stanley Cup.