Capitals eliminate the Canadiens in round 1, will enjoy the day off on Thursday
Photo credit: Athlon Sports
The Washington Capitals eliminated the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night with a 4-1 win at Capital One Arena on Wednesday.
The Capitals will not skate today following their series clinching win over the Canadiens last night.
Next up for the Capitals in the second round are the Carolina Hurricanes. The Metropolitan Division rivals also advanced in five games, sealing their series against the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night.
The #ALLCAPS are off today, BTW. They practice tomorrow at 10:30am in Arlington.
Chris Cerullo from RMNB writes that with 111 points to top the NHL's Eastern Conference in the regular season, the Capitals secured home-ice advantage and will host the first two games of the series. The Hurricanes, who placed second in the Metropolitan Division, trailed Washington by 12 points.
"The two teams split their regular-season series 2-2, which at times got incredibly heated. Carolina finished ahead in goal differential, outscoring the Capitals 14-11. The Capitals took the last game of the regular-season series 5-4 in a shootout on April 10." -Cerullo
Cerullo also writes that the Capitals had a tough time against the Hurricanes at five-on-five this season. Over their four matchups.
Here's what Capitals forward Dylan Strome had to say following his team's victory last night.
«Obviously, we're playing a real good opponent coming up next. Going to be a totally different test with the way they play, but we'll watch some video, we'll study up, and we'll be ready to go. -Strome
With their first-round win over the Canadiens, the Capitals now face one of just three Eastern Conference teams they've never beaten in a playoff series, the Hurricanes. The only previous postseason meeting between Washington and Carolina came in 2019, when the defending Stanley Cup champion Capitals were eliminated in seven games during the opening round.
«Everyone kinda knows how they play. They dump a lot of pucks in, they don't let you have a lot of zone time. We're going to need to find a way to combat that. They're a great team. We've had some pretty good games with them this year, some physical games, so I expect a little bit more of what we saw in this series. But it's going to be huge to have the puck. We need the puck.» -Strome
The NHL has not yet announced the complete schedule for the second-round series, as five of the eight first-round matchups are still in progress.
| POLL | ||
MAI 1 | 63 ANSWERS Capitals eliminate the Canadiens in round 1, will enjoy the day off on Thursday Do you think the Capitals will beat Hurricanes in the second round? | ||
| yes | 53 | 84.1 % |
| no | 10 | 15.9 % |
| List of polls | ||
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