Preview: Capitals vs Penguins 2009

Records

Washington (2): 50-24-8 (108 pts) Home: 29-9-3 Away: 21-15-5
Pittsburgh (4): 45-28-9 (99 pts) Home: 25-13-3 Away: 20-15-6

How They Got Here

Washington stormed back from down 3-1 to drop the NY Rangers and Pittsburgh handled the Flyers in 6 games.

Head-to-Head

Oct 16, 2008 – WAS 4 PIT 3
Jan 14, 2009 – WAS 6 PIT 3
Feb 22, 2009 – WAS 5 PIT 2
Mar 8, 2009 – WAS 3 PIT 4 (SO)
Washington won the season series 3-1.

Fights

Oct 16, 2008 – Matt Bradley vs Paul Bissonnette

Lineup

Goaltending: EDGE Pittsburgh
Scoring: DRAW
Defense: DRAW
Coaching: EDGE Washington
Grit: DRAW

Schedule

Saturday, May 2 at Washington, 1:00 p.m. NBC, CBC
Monday, May 4 at Washington, 7:00 p.m. VERSUS, CBC
Wednesday, May 6 at Pittsburgh, 7:00 p.m. VERSUS, CBC
Friday, May 8 at Pittsburgh, 7:00 p.m. VERSUS, CBC
*Saturday, May 9 at Washington, 7:00 p.m. VERSUS, CBC
*Monday, May 11 at Pittsburgh, TBD VERSUS, CBC
*Wednesday, May 13 at Washington, 7:00 p.m. VERSUS, CBC

Prediction

Certainly, this is a dream matchup for the NHL. The two biggest stars will face off in a rivalry that went from playful media buzz to legitimate dislike earlier this year. Right now Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin producing as one would expect, but Alex Ovechkin looked ordinary at times against the Rangers. He’s going to have to step it up if the Caps have a chance. The other question for Washington is Simeon Varlamov. He handled himself very well in the first round, but it’s no secret that New York wasn’t the most offensively-gifted team, in fact they were dead last of all playoff teams. I see the high-flying Pens getting to Varlamov and finishing the series off at home in game 6.

John’s Pick

Here’s the series that the league and fans alike were dying to see. I hope that the hatred developed between the two sides during the final weeks of the regular season carries through into the playoffs, especially between Sidney Crosby and Sasha Ovechkin. Washington owned the season series between the two, but the Pens are a completely different team compared to the first half of the season. If they compete at the level they did against the Flyers, they should move onto the Conference Finals. Still, the Caps won’t go down without a fight. Pens in a classic seven games.

David’s Pick

It’s great to see a rivalry re-born. This Patrick Division match-up was owned by the Caps until the Pens broke through in OT in the last game in March. For all of the pushing and shoving, there was just one set of fighting majors. Still, it was great to see the games ooze real emotion and not just reek of media hype. The Caps and Pens are very even up front, but after Crosby and Ovechkin, Alexander Semin and Malkin, the Caps still come in with big guns like Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Green. That doesn’t mean the Pens can’t score, they have plenty of other double-digit goal-scorers like Jordan Staal and Petr Sykora. The key factors in this one will be if the Pens know how to contain a defensive scoring threat like Green, and if Varlamov can remain solid in between the pipes. I think he can, and if he just matches Marc-Andre Fleury‘s play, the Caps can take the series in a stretched-out 7. I see a lot of overtime, or maybe I’m just hoping for it.