Stanley Cup Playoffs 2017: Washington vs. Pittsburgh Series Prediction

The Second Round of the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs Starts on Wednesday. Meaning we are Getting Closer and Closer to the Stanley Cup, Who Will Win it? Follow This Series to Find Out!

BREAKDOWN OF THE TEAMS FIRST ROUND:
Both clubs faced teams with a vast majority of rookies that pushed them to their limits, Washington went six games with Toronto while Pittsburgh went five with Columbus. Now, this is a series that would have been a great conference final in the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs so in a lot of aspects were all getting it early as a special gift so to speak. Both teams possess tremendous offense and defense as well as two amazing goalies.

SPECIAL TEAMS:

Pittsburgh has had amazing special teams this postseason, which isn’t too surprising when your forward core consists of Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby, Patric Hornqvist, Conor Sheary, Jake Guentzel, and Phil Kessel. That’s probably why they currently sit second at 33.3 percent on the power play. Their penalty kill is just as good putting the team sixth in the league at 83.3 percent. The absence of Kris Letang plays a huge part of course but with guys like Olli Maatta, Justin Schultz, Ron Hainsey, Mark Streit, Trevor Daley, and Ian Cole you have an opportunity every night to shut down the opposing team’s power play.

Another team who isn’t too far behind on the power play is Washington who sits third at 29.4 percent, their penalty kill, however, is eighth in the same percentage as Pittsburgh’s 83.3. And with Nicklas Backstrom, Andre Burakovsky, Lars Eller, Marcus Johansson, Evgeny Kuznetsov, T.J. Oshie, Alex Ovechkin, Justin Williams, John Carlson, Matt Niskanen, Dmitry Orlov, Brooks Orpik, and Kevin Shattenkirk on both of the respective units you’re gonna have a competitive team that can also shut down play and score on the man advantage. But since Pittsburgh has fared much better at both it’s going to be tough for Washington to do so, and vice versa.

EDGE: Draw

OFFENSE:

Both of these clubs are super heavy upfront Pittsburgh has the clear advantage when it comes to goal scorers, but Washington has a fair amount as well as guys who will take the body and come in at clutch times. Washington’s forward core consists of guys mentioned above as well as Jay Beagle, Paul Carey, Brett Connolly, Chandler Stephenson, Tom Wilson, and Daniel Winnik. While Pittsburgh’s remaining core consists of Nick Bonino, Matt Cullen, Tom Kuhnhackl, Carter Rowney, Bryan Rust, and Scott Wilson. Both teams have goal scorers, playmakers, grinders, power forwards, and two-way forwards. They are both pretty much equally matched which is why this series is going to be electric.

EDGE: Draw

DEFENSE:

Out of the two teams, Pittsburgh may have a slight edge in experience but Washington has the edge when it comes to smooth skaters who can move the puck extremely well. Besides the defenseman already mentioned, Pittsburgh still has some solid guys in Brian Dumoulin and Cameron Gaunce. While the Capitals still have Taylor Chorney and Nate Schmidt. Once injured players come back from both teams like Karl Alzner, Kris Letang, and Chad Ruhwedel the d-cores of both clubs get an even bigger boost. Now age and experience as well as scoring over scoring, speed, and creativity, it’s tough to even on the backend.

EDGE: Draw

GOALTENDING:

Now, this may be the one zone where a team as a distinct advantage, if the Pens didn’t hurt their starter Matthew Murray in warm up this area would most likely be another draw. But the Pens are outclassed in this area as of right now. Braden Holtby is a much better goalie than Marc-Andre Fleury and is also having a much better postseason statistically. Now when it comes to the backups, Washington has Pittsburgh yet again because Philipp Grubauer is a safer bet to backup your team than Tristan Jarry who is still inexperienced at the NHL level despite having tons of potential.

EDGE: Washington

Next: Playoff Player Rankings: Ducks Rise

SERIES OUTCOME:

This series is going to be absolutely insane and a scoring clinic. Expect a lot of the play to come down to the goaltenders and special teams, but even in that area, it’s still going to be so close. And with Pittsburgh wanting to repeat and the Capitals never winning a cup the deciding factor will clearly come down to who wants it more.

FINAL SERIES RECORD: Pittsburgh wins series 4-3.

PREDICTION: WASHINGTON 4-1 OVER TORONTO
ACTUAL OUTCOME: CAPITALS WIN 4-2
PREDICTION PERCENTAGE: 50%

PREDICTION: MONTREAL 4-3 OVER RANGERS
ACTUAL OUTCOME: RANGERS WIN 4-2
PREDICTION PERCENTAGE: 0%

PREDICTION: SAN JOSE 4-2 OVER EDMONTON
ACTUAL OUTCOME: EDMONTON WINS 4-2
PREDICTION PERCENTAGE: 50%

PREDICTION: ANAHEIM 4-2 OVER CALGARY
ACTUAL OUTCOME: DUCKS WIN 4-0
PREDICTION PERCENTAGE: 50%

PREDICTION: BOSTON 4-2 OVER OTTAWA
ACTUAL OUTCOME: SENATORS WIN 4-2
PREDICTION PERCENTAGE: 50%

PREDICTION: PITTSBURGH 4-2 OVER COLUMBUS
ACTUAL OUTCOME: PENGUINS WIN 4-1
PREDICTION PERCENTAGE: 50%

PREDICTION: CHICAGO 4-3 OVER NASHVILLE
ACTUAL OUTCOME: NASHVILLE WINS 4-0
PREDICTION PERCENTAGE: 0%

PREDICTION: MINNESOTA 4-3 OVER ST. LOUIS
ACTUAL OUTCOME: BLUES WIN 4-1
PREDICTION PERCENTAGE: 0%