It's That Time Again: Penguins vs Capitals in the Playoffs

Published on 24-Apr-2018 by J Square Humboldt

NHL    NHL Daily Update

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It's That Time Again: Penguins vs Capitals in the Playoffs

This is becoming a rite of spring.

With the NHL playoff format based on teams getting outta their respective divisions in bracket play, current times mandate that Metropolitan members Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals meet early in the proceedings.

And often.

The Pens vaulted from their last two seasons' series victory to hoisting the Stanley Cup twice. The Caps, meanwhile, have assumed the tragic-figure mantel at a Shakespearean level.

 

They're approaching the Eastern Conference semi-finals on virtually even terms. Washington gets home ice by virtue of winning the Metropolitan, but venue hasn't mattered much the past two seasons.

Both took their first-round series in six games.

Washington understandably raised fears of playoffs past but ultimately handled the young and promising Columbus Jackets with the coup de grace being their 6-3 victory at home:

 

Pittsburgh suffered allegedly short-term injuries to the likes of Patric Hörnqvist and Geno Malkin but still had enough to put down a late-series rebellion by the Philadelphia Flyers, who totally self-destructed in the deciding game's third period:

 

The Caps and Pens don't have a deep-rooted, animosity-rich rivalry like Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

For now, it's still a familiarity-breeding-contempt sorta thing like the Detroit Red Wings and Colorado Avalanche had back in the 90s because they were the playoff powers then.

 

The image of Kris Draper gushing blood at the hands of über-villain Claude Lemieux still raises hackles in Hockeytown and points beyond.

 

Neither Washington nor Pittsburgh feature a headhunter on its roster, not for any moral reason but because there's simply no room for one given their styles of play.

Besides that, how can it be a rivalry when the Penguins are 9-1 against the Capitals in playoff series?

 

While this clash is certain to hold center stage, the irony is neither combatant is favored to with the Cup.

Here's where Bovada has the odds as of now:

Nashville ... +400   Winnipeg ... +600   Boston ... +900
Tampa Bay ... +450   Washington ... +650   San José ... +900
Vegas ... +600   Pittsburgh ... +650   Toronto ... +1600

 

There will no doubt be lotsa drama elsewhere in the bracket, such as:

  • The Sharks and Predators trying to take that final step after coming so close,
  • The Golden Knights' improbable feelgood story having legs,
  • The Jets' drive to bring the Cup to the league's smallest market,
  • And so on.

 

Those will all appear in their own time.

But the Penguins and Capitals are now.