Daily Picks: Rangers at home facing elimination
Welcome to the Stanley Cup Playoffs Daily Picks, where CBS hockey writers Chris Peters and Adam Gretz get you ready for every game every day of the postseason and share their predictions for each.
Washington Capitals at New York Rangers, Game 5, 7 p.m. ET, NBCSN
Capitals lead series, 3-1
The Washington Capitals have a chance to do something this season that they have not done since 1998 (and something they have done only twice in franchise history): advance to the conference finals. The Capitals enter Game 5 of their second-round series with the New York Rangers holding a 3-1 lead, something that hasn’t always been kind to them in the playoffs, after winning back-to-back one-goal games at home.
While coach Barry Trotz and the Capitals’ offseason additions of Matt Niskanen and Brooks Orpik on defense are getting a lot of the attention for their improved defensive play, the real star on the Capitals this season has been the play of goaltender Braden Holtby. And he hasn’t disappointed in the playoffs. He has outplayed Henrik Lundqvist in this series (and given how great Lundqvist has played, that is no small accomplishment) and enters play on Friday with a .950 save percentage in 10 appearances.
Since the NHL started tracking save percentages in the mid-1980s, no goalie with a minimum of 10 games played has ever finished the postseason with a save percentage higher than .946.
He has played a significant role in shutting down the New York offense, something that continues to be a problem for the Rangers. They have scored just 16 goals in nine playoff games and have topped more than two in a single game just twice. Losing Mats Zuccarello has hurt, but there should still be enough offense here to average more than one or two goals per game. If they can’t figure out a way to solve Holtby and find some offense Friday, their season will come to a close.
Pick: Capitals 3, Rangers 2
Anaheim Ducks at Calgary Flames, Game 4, 9:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN
Ducks lead series, 2-1
Game 3 was one of the craziest games of the postseason simply for the way it ended with some potential controversy and yet another third-period comeback by the Flames to hand the Ducks their first loss of the postseason.
And now the Flames have a chance to even the series Friday night.
To do that, though, they are going to have to find an answer for the Ducks’ offense that has already scored 28 goals in seven games this postseason, averaging exactly four goals per game. The only other team that has advanced beyond the first round averaging more than 2.64 goals per game is the Chicago Blackhawks (3.20 following their second-round sweep of the Minnesota Wild).
Pick: Ducks 5, Flames 2
Goalie Braden Holtby and the Washington Capitals look to advance. (USATSI)
Three stars
1. Braden Holtby, Washington Capitals: Other than Alex Ovechkin, Holtby has been the Capitals’ best player this season (and there might even be an argument to be made that Holtby is their most important player). He has been a wall this postseason (and in every postseason appearance he has had since joining the Capitals) and that should continue on Friday night with a chance to advance.
2. Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals: Not only do the Capitals have a chance to advance to the conference finals for the first time since 1998, Ovechkin has a chance to do so for the first time in his career. He is having a magnificent playoff run for the Capitals this season
3. Corey Perry, Anaheim Ducks: Perry enters play Friday with a league-leading 14 points this postseason. And he has done it it only seven games. During a postseason where goal scoring is down even more than it was during the regular season, Perry is averaging two points per game. That is almost impossible in this era of the NHL. He is right there with Tyler Johnson and Patrick Kane in the Conn Smythe Trophy discussion right now.
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