Victory calculation: Ovechkin and McDavid will be eliminated, and Bobrovsky will go further

On Monday, May 5, the first round of the Stanley Cup ended, and on Tuesday the quarterfinal series will start, the most interesting of which will be the confrontation of Alexander Ovechkin's Washington with Andrei Sveshnikov's Carolina and last year's Florida champion Sergei Bobrovsky with Toronto. Read more about the upcoming stage in the Izvestia article.

Washington — Carolina

Russians: Alekseev, Ovechkin — Kochetkov, Orlov, Nikishin, Svechnikov

Both teams confidently overcame the first round, there was no doubt about that. Montreal and New Jersey took just one match apiece, allowing Washington and Carolina to calmly recover before a truly stubborn series.

Washington looked noticeably better in the series with Montreal than at the end of the regular season, but Alexander Ovechkin's team did not have total dominance. The Canadiens could easily have taken both the first and second match of the series on the road. I was particularly pleased with the performance of the Capitals' main goalkeeper Logan Thompson, who conceded more than two goals in only one game.

Carolina also did not hold a series with the Devils without mistakes, and in the fourth match lost the main goalkeeper Frederik Andersen due to injury. However, Petr Kochetkov is not inferior to the Dane in his level. Otherwise, the Hurricanes have no weaknesses, except for a certain straightforwardness of Rod Brindamore — with a very powerful selection of hockey players, the team has never reached the finals, because the coach simply does not have a backup plan.

Lack of flexibility should not prevent Carolina from passing Washington. The Capitals won't have much of a majority in the playoffs, so you can't expect Alexander Ovechkin to score a lot of goals in this series. With help from the lower ranks, Washington is not doing nearly as well as its upcoming opponent.

Izvestia's forecast: Carolina wins 4-2

Toronto — Florida

Russians: no — Bobrovsky, Kulikov

Toronto, having won the Atlantic Division, avoided meeting with Florida in the first round of the playoffs. The Maple Leafs received a comfortable (at first glance) Ottawa, the series with which almost dragged on until the seventh game. The experience and leadership backbone helped close it out in the sixth match. Against Florida, Craig Berubi's team will get a completely different level of resistance. The Panthers unexpectedly dealt with Tampa in five matches, stopping Nikita Kucherov, the top scorer of the regular season, and seriously spoiling the statistics of Andrei Vasilevsky, the nominee for the Vezina Trophy.

In the series with the Lightning, Florida returned to the settings of the last playoffs. Paul Maurice has launched a machine that understands how to win the Stanley Cup. It is this experience that should help the Panthers in the upcoming series with Toronto. Getting through the first round is already a big feat for the Maple Leafs. The curse of this stage of the playoffs is still remembered in the city. Going on vacation after losing to Ottawa would be too humiliating. After all, these are teams from different hockey poles. Having received a more serious opponent, the Leafs must turn on and get hidden reserves.

The Panthers also look like favorites because they have faced strong resistance since the first round. The fact that Toronto has delayed the series with Ottawa rather speaks to the problems of Beruby's team. The Florida leaders have returned the image of the old monsters to the playoffs and are ready to trample any opponent on the way to the championship. Barkov, Tkachak, Reinhart — these and other forwards come with a "point per game" schedule. Another advantage of the Panthers is the game of Sergei Bobrovsky, who knows how to turn on difficult moments. His stress tolerance is incomparably higher than that of Anthony Stolarz from Toronto. This is another argument why Maurice's team is closer to the finals of the East.

Izvestia's forecast: Florida won 4-2

Winnipeg — Dallas

Russians: Namestnikov — Dadonov, Lyubushkin

No matter how hard Connor Helliback, who was nominated for the Vezina Trophy, tried to turn on the elite vacuum cleaner mode in the series with St. Louis, he did not send the winner of the regular season on vacation. However, the Jets had enough problems in the most interesting seven-match series, in addition to the extremely weak game of the best goalkeeper of the regular season. These are defensive errors, the shortcomings of the central axis, and the unnamed injury to Mark Scheifli, who missed the crucial meeting with the Blues.

But if the Jets approached the series with the Musicians as the undisputed favorite, then in the second round the winners of the Presidential Cup will no longer be considered a team that is one hundred percent obliged to go further. Although Dallas suffered in its seven-match standoff with Colorado, ruffling the nerves of its fans in the decisive game, it still looks like a much more balanced team with a deep offense, a cool defensive line and a solid goaltending tandem. And that's even without Jason Robertson and Miro Heiskanen, whose return to the ice is expected in the second round.

And right now, Peter Deboer has a joker in the form of the Finnish triple Granlund – Hintz –Rantanen. The latter best shows why Stars boss Jim Neill gave him the coveted eight-year, $12 million contract with Caphit.

Izvestia's forecast: Dallas wins 4-2

Vegas — Edmonton

Russians: Barbashev, Dorofeev, Samsonov — Podkolzin

Vegas and Edmonton reached their second series in three years after identical 4-2 wins in the opening round. But if the question arises as to why the Knights suffered so much with the not-so-formidable Minnesota, then Edmonton, after two defeats from Los Angeles, won four in a row and confidently put a toothy opponent out of the way. It is impossible to transfer these impressions to the future, deducing an impeccable forecast on this basis. But obviously, the current version of Vegas has drawbacks.

In the playoffs the year before last, Bruce Cassidy's team exhausted their opponents with a stuffy manner of play and did not allow them to unleash their full attacking potential. Back then, the efforts of two outstanding strikers of our time, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, were only enough for a couple of victories. The current Edmonton is more experienced, balanced and reliable than before, and also knows how to overcome difficulties during the series. His head coach Chris Noblockwork is more interesting than his predecessor Jay Woodcroft.

The main goalkeeper, Stuart Skinner, swam — he was replaced by Calvin Picard. Power players Evander Kane and Trent Frederick have made a great start to the squad after injuries. Even the absence of the best defender, Matthias Ekholm, was compensated for by the actions of Jake Walman and the mini-renaissance of Swedish veteran Jon Klingberg.

Vegas must improve if it wants to go further. This applies to goalkeeper Aydin Hill, and the leading pair of defenders Alex Pietrangelo — Noah Hanifin, and the actions of the entire team in equal compositions. The majority teams must also play their part, because there are no teams worse than the Oilers in the minority in the first round. An experienced Cassidy knows how to hit his opponent's weak points. Edmonton did not perform flawlessly defensively, and it is extremely difficult to believe that 33-year-old Picard will maintain his confidence and reliability in goal from a distance. He didn't have any special exploits during his career.

Izvestia's forecast: Vegas wins 4-3