The Caps and the Lighting

Ed. Note-This came in on Monday, but due to technical difficulties, is running today. We've decided to leave out the final prediction since the series ended on Wednesday. Tampa Bay advanced 4-0 over Washington.

It took first seeded Washington a total of five games to get rid of the eighth-seed New York Rangers in Round 1, two of which went into overtime. Head coach Bruce Boudreau implemented a much tighter defensive style this season, which proved effective, holding the Rangers to a mere eight goals throughout the series. This round, however, they’re facing a completely different opponent whose speed and skating style have twice outscored Washington, give them a comfortable 2-0 lead.

(Welcome to Bruce Boudreau's nightmare)


The Caps don’t shy away from letting their main guys control the action. Alexander Ovechkin had three goals and three assists in Round 1, with a total of 23 goals and 23 assists throughout his 33 postseason career games. He only scored two goals, but assisted in eight throughout the Caps six regular-season games against the Bolts this year. Alexander Semin put up nine points, with seven goals and two assists; he had hat tricks in two of the games. Niklas Backstrom, who has been relatively quiet for the Caps this postseason, had two goals and eight assists over the teams’ six meetings. Mike Knuble, an important physical presence on the ice, returned for the second game of Round 2, after missing the last three games with an injured right hand.
(Two minutes in)

Tampa Bay came back from a 3-1 deficit to eliminate the Penguins in seven games. This is only the second time the Lightning has found itself as far as the second round of the playoffs; the first was in 2004, when they went on to win the franchise’s only Stanley Cup title by beating Calgary in seven games. Tampa finished this regular season as the fifth seed after falling short of making the playoffs for three years in a row. General manager Steve Yzerman and head coach Guy Boucher joined on board at the start of the season, both taking on these positions in the NHL for the first time.

The Lightning’s not-so-secret weapon, Martin St. Louis, has been unstoppable. He finished the regular season with 31 goals and 68 assists and finished Round 1 with four goals and four assists. He is currently up against Daniel Sedin (Vancouver Canucks) and Corey Perry (Anaheim Ducks) for the Hart Trophy, which is awarded to the player deemed most valuable to his team. St. Louis previously won the award after the Lightning’s Stanley Cup run during the 2003-2004 season.

The Bolts acquired veteran goalie Dwayne Roloson from the New York Islanders in January. He has proven to be a brick wall so far these playoffs, stopping 243 of the Penguins 256 shots during Round 1 (.949 save percentage) and completely shutting them out in game seven. Roloson faced the Capitals five times this season, shutting them out twice and finishing 2-2-1 with a .953 save percentage.

The two teams faced each other six times throughout the 2010-2011 regular season, with the Capitals taking four games (one in a shootout) and the Lightning taking two.

During those meetings, the Caps held Tampa Bay to a mere 10 goals. The teams have only faced each other in the playoffs once before, during Round 2 in 2003; the Lightning took the series in six games. If the Capitals advance to Round 3, it will be their first time in the Conference Finals since 1998. Excluding this postseason, the Caps came back to win four straight playoff series after being down 3-1. The Lightning, on the other hand, have won their last five games in a row, all on the road, coming back from a 3-1 game deficit against the Pens.

The Capitals controlled much of the puck action this round against Tampa, but have found themselves down 2-0. Roloson held them to two goals both game and the Bolts have been finding ways to put more pucks in the net. (Also know as Sean Bergenheim whacks at the puck till it goes in)

After Ovechkin’s thrilling goal Sunday to tie the game with a minute and eight seconds left, the Caps left Tampa’s Vincent Lecavalier wide open to score the game-winner. Tampa played game two without the experience of Pavel Kubina and Simon Gagne. If the Caps want to win it, they need more players to step up. (Have you seen me?)

The Bolts have been taking advantage of the man-advantage, scoring power-play goals during both games. They’ve also been seeing a lot of numbers put up by players off the bench, such as Sean Bergenheim, as well as consistent points by their big names, including Steven Stamkos. The Caps definitely have the talent to win, but they need to find a spark against the determined Lightning, especially facing the next two games on the road.

–Oritt Blum