Capitals Look Too Good For The Flyers To Beat
By Joseph Santoliquito
PHILADELPHIA, PA (CBS) — If the Flyers have any shot at toppling the NHL's best team, the Washington Capitals, it begins tonight. The team will be fueled by the emotional loss of its owner, Ed Snider, who passed away on Monday after battling cancer, and to a man, this was a nerve-wracking week for this team.
The Flyers will need something to carry them when they begin the playoffs at 7 p.m. in Washington, because the numbers in the Caps' favor are undeniable.
Washington's starting lineup is a cumulative plus-minus is a staggering plus-81, which dwarfs the Flyers' minus-22 for their starters.
The team Caps were built to dominate and win the Stanley Cup. It's a franchise that has underachieved during the Alex Ovechkin era. The last—and only—time Washington was in the Stanley Cup was 18 years, when the Caps were swept by Detroit in 1998.
This year, they've steamrolled teams, establishing a franchise record for wins (56), clinching the NHL's best regular-season record for the second time in the team's history—and doing it before any team in the Eastern Conference clinched a playoff berth. The Caps were second in the league in scoring with 252 goals, behind an avalanche of scoring from Ovechkin (50 goals), Evgeny Kuznetsov (77 points), Nicklas Backstrom (70), Justin Williams (52) and T.J. Oshie (51). Goaltender Braden Holtby (48-9-7, 2.20 GAA, .922 save pct.) has been amazing.
There isn't really much room for error against a nearly unbeatable team.
The Flyers are gritty and scrappy and have been playing exceptionally well the last two months of the season. Captain Claude Giroux will need to show his potent scoring ability to cancel out Ovechkin, and Wayne Simmonds and Jakub Voracek have come together to play their best hockey at the most important time of the year. Rookie defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere (17 goals and 29 assists in 64 games) has been nothing short of sensational, but he enters the playoffs with "general soreness" though will play in Game One tonight.
The key to the series will be Flyers' goalie Steve Mason, who finished the year 23-19-10, with a 2.51 GAA. Here is one thing the Flyers have in their favor. They do match up well against the Caps. During the last five years, they are 11-5-1 against Washington, and 2-2 this season.
Riding the emotional crest of Snider's death, the Flyers have a great chance to surprise Washington in Game One. Then, reality will set in. This is Washington's year. The Caps win in five.
