Capital Chance: Will Ovechkin win a second Stanley Cup

All participants and pairs of the first round of the Stanley Cup became known following the results of the match between Montreal and Carolina (4:2). Thanks to this victory, the Canadiens will play Alexander Ovechkin's Washington, the best club in the Eastern Conference, in the first round. Among other interesting pairs, it is worth noting the confrontation between Nikita Kucherov and Andrey Vasilevsky's Tampa and Sergey Bobrovsky's Florida, as well as the rivalry between Kirill Kaprizov's Minnesota and Ivan Barbashev's Vegas. For more information about the NHL playoffs starting on April 19, see the Izvestia article.

Ovechkin vs. Demidov

The first round of the NHL playoffs will feature a meeting between Alexander Ovechkin and Ivan Demidov. Montreal snatched the last ticket to the wild card zone, not allowing Columbus to enter. The Canadiens had a great April—Martin San Louis' boys didn't score points in only one game. Reaching the playoffs is a great success for the perestroika team, but the audacious Montreal is clearly not going to stop there. Although Washington looks like the obvious favorite of the series.

The strength of the current "Washington" is in the balance. Head coach Spencer Carbery can rely on a variable offense. Different links are ready to decide the result of a single match. At the same time, the masters who know the heat of the playoffs are responsible for the cup experience in the team - Ovechkin, Strom, Carlson, Wilson. The young Montreal does not have such personalities in the squad. You can't get very far in the playoffs on one shot. At the key moments of the series, it is important to be able to hold a punch. The fact that the talents from the Canadiens — Hutson, Slafkowski, Demidov — will play in the playoffs is a huge plus for the organization, but they are too young for exploits in the Stanley Cup. The current Washington, which has consistently passed the regular season, is not yet a match for Montreal.

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Defender of "Carolina" Dmitry Orlov — about the game and friendship with the "Great Eight", as well as his plans

The Capitals combine skill, experience and game variability. There is a leader, Ovechkin, who knows how to win the Stanley Cup. There are goalkeepers who have consistently maintained a high level for most of the regular season. There are progressing Protas and McMichael. There are experienced Strom, Wilson and Carlson. All this adds up to organized teamwork, in which it is impossible to single out one of the three that affects the result more than the rest. So why shouldn't the Capitals repeat the success of 2018?

Kucherov vs. Bobrovsky

The Florida Derby in the playoffs is always a somewhat special event. Over the years of clashes on the way to the Stanley Cup, the Panthers and the Lightning have taught us that they don't feel sorry for each other on the ice. The level of hatred between neighbors in the state is often off the charts. Moreover, Paul Maurice and John Cooper have enough characters getting under their skin. What are the only forwards of the "cats" Matthew Tkachak and Brad Marchand worth, who will definitely torment the entire series of Kucherov, Point and company.

The final position of the teams in the Atlantic Division and the higher seeding of Tampa may mislead regarding the contender status of Florida in the upcoming Stanley Cup. However, it is important to remember that for most of the season, the Panthers were above the Lightning, slowing down sharply at the end of the regular season due to a large number of injuries. Now the main question is in what condition the leaders of Maurice, who have just healed their injuries, will approach the first round.

If Barkov, Tkachak and Reinhart manage to get into optimal shape quickly, then Florida, which is well-equipped at the deadline, is obliged to go through the first round and go for the second cup. But the current Tampa doesn't exactly look like a team whose ceiling is reaching the playoffs.

Kaprizov vs Vegas

The composition of Vegas, which finished second in the West, does not look like a model of balance, as in the championship season two years ago. However, the golden backbone with Aikel, Pietrangelo, Stone, Karlsson, Barbashev, Hug and Smith showed that they are still capable of not only solving big tasks, but also acting quite brightly in attack.

At the moment, there are no prerequisites that Minnesota, which barely got into the playoffs, will stop the Knights in the first round. With Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek returning from the infirmary at the end of the regular season, the chances of the Savages getting through to the first round do not look so modest. But it would be difficult to count on such an outcome with one cool three in the attack.

Vegas has a relatively comfortable net on its side — first, the passable Minnesota awaits it (three wins in three regular season matches), and then Los Angeles - Edmonton, who survived the brutal meat grinder. If the team manages to reach the Stanley Cup finals with minimal losses, then it will definitely be the favorite in the series against any opponent from the East.