The Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers are set to begin what will be one of the toughest playoff series in the NHL this post season.
Tonight, the Caps will play host the Flyers as both teams ready themselves for Game 1 of the best of 7 series that pits the first place Capitals against a Philadelphia team that has been playing desperate and incredible hockey.
It's hard to believe that this will be the first time in 8 years that the Caps and Flyers have met in the playoffs. We have to go back all the way to 2008 when the Flyers beat Washington in the first round.
The Presidents' Trophy winning Capitals know that the regular season means absolutely nothing at this point, especially when taking on a team as red-hot as Philadelphia was down the stretch.
“It’s a tough league,… said Nick Backstrom. “It’s tougher than you think. It doesn’t really matter if you’re the first seed or the eighth seed, because everyone can beat everyone. It’s just a matter of work ethic and how you play as a team. It’s really tough to go all the way, but at the same time we’re in a good spot. We’re going to start at home, so hopefully we can take advantage of that.… (WashingtonCapitals.com)
Washington will lean on goaltender Braden Holtby to lead from the backend. Holtby hasn't had much luck against the Flyers in his career however, winning only 6 of 17 starts since 2010 (6-4-6). His career numbers against Philadelphia are 2.76 GAA and a .907 SP.
Holtby has stood tall all season, and given the Capitals a much needed boost in net. While it is a team game, Holtby has showed that he can carry the game if need be. If the Caps are to have any chance this post-season, they'll need him to be the Vezina winner we all know he can be.
The lines for tonight:
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 19-Backstrom, 77-Oshie
65-Burakovsky, 92-Kuznetsov, 14-Williams
25-Chimera, 10-Richards, 90-Johansson
26-Winnik, 83-Beagle, 43-Wilson
Defense
44-Orpik, 74-Carlson
27-Alzner, 2-Niskanen
9-Orlov, 88-Schmidt
Goaltenders
70-Holtby 31-Grubauer
More to come...