Follow @james_tanner123 What do you know about pressure?
You could ask Ace Ventura.........or you could ask the Washington Capitals.
Entering the Playoffs for the third time as the President's Trophy Winners, they probably know a thing or two about it.
In the NHL, the regular season doesn't mean a thing. Even though it requires less luck and probably a stronger, better built team to pull off, two straight Regular Season Championships doesn't compare to a Cup.
Logic is out the window and Championships rule. Maybe that's how it should be. Certainly it's how the majority of people see the NHL, myself included.
So while the Caps have accomplished a great deal, they haven't done the main thing.
Crosby has two Cups. He has an Olympic Gold.
Ovechkin has neither.
And as unfair as that is to Ovechkin (he never got a Malkin and a Kessel, nor is Russia capable of sending three teams that would all medal to the Olympics)....that's reality.
No player - I don't think anyways - has ever been under such specific pressure to deliver.
We're talking about a player who is arguably the greatest goal scorer of all time, and because he doesn't have that specific trophy, he doesn't get the respect he deserves.
Since making it to the Semi Finals five years ago, they've lost in the first round, failed to make the playoffs, then gone out in round two in back to back years.
What awaits them this spring?
Unfortunately, unless they win it all, they'll be a huge disappointment.
Every other "good" team either has won recently, is very injured, maybe both, or is new to the "being good" game.
The Capitals are the only team out of 16 which really, really, have to win.
The Toronto series is the worst matchup they could have gotten, precisely because it's the (on paper) easiest.
The Leafs have zero pressure. If they go out in four straight, their fans will say "hey, we had a good season!" and realize that's what was supposed to happen.
So the problem here is that a massive favorite has a ton of pressure, may be psychologically fragile due to that pressure (who's to say? It's possible) and has to face the game's youngest, fastest team, and that team is basically on a free-role, playing with house money.
The Capitals will probably win.
But the Pressure to do so is potentially overwhelming.