When the Stanley Cup Playoffs first began, everyone thought we would see Nashville versus Pittsburgh, or Winnipeg and Boston. But we are now down to the two teams who will battle it out for the cup, and I don’t think many people could have predicted this matchup between the Vegas Golden Knights and the Washington Capitals. At the beginning of the season, the odds of Vegas winning the Stanley cup were 500-1. Fast forward to the end of the regular season, as they will now take on the Washington Capitals, a team that has always seemed to have a strong regular season but could never make it past the second round. This year, things are different for the Caps as they survived a first round scare against the Blue Jackets, shocked the Penguins, and defeated the Lightning in a 4-0 game 7 victory. Two unlikely teams, only one will be crowned Stanley Cup Champions.
It’s no doubt that this series is going to be an intense one, But I believe Vegas has a slight upper hand in this series. The Golden Knights have only lost 3 games in this year’s playoffs, and much of the credit for their run can be given to their star goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. With a record of 12-3, a 1.68 goals allowed average, a .947 save percentage, and 4 shutouts. If he keeps up this performance, not only will the Knights take the cup, but he will definitely earn The Conn Smythe trophy. With help on offense courtesy of Jonathan Marchessault, Reilly Smith, and William Karlsson, this team has been solid on both sides of the puck and will no doubt provide some major competition for Washington.
However, the Capitals aren’t exactly a major underdog in this series. Throughout the whole playoffs, they have not given up and fought to the bitter end of every series. This was evident against Tampa Bay, because even facing elimination, the Caps stayed calm under pressure and were able to close out the series in a game 7 victory. Even their top netminder, Braden Holtby, showed resilience throughout the series as he was able to bounce back to help pick up wins in game 6 and 7. He has been solid overall in this year’s playoffs posting an 11-6 record, .919 save percentage and a 2.16 goals against average and must continue this if he wants to give his team a shot at winning the series. In order for the Caps to take this series and win the Stanley Cup, Holtby must stay hot in net and their top offensive players including Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov have to keep scoring. They just have to keep playing like they did in game 7 throughout the series and they will be successful.
This is going to be one amazing series and I am definitely looking forward to see who comes out on top. Both Vegas and Washington have proved they deserve to be in the Stanley Cup finals . But if I had to pick, I think the Vegas Golden Knights will come out on top in 5 games.
