Stanley Cup Playoffs Daily Picks: Can Rangers force Game 7? – CBSSports.com
The New York Rangers and Washington Capitals meet on Sunday. (USATSI)
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.
New York Rangers at Washington Capitals, Game 6, 7 p.m. ET, NBCSN
Capitals lead series, 3-2
When the Rangers advanced in the second round last season against the Pittsburgh Penguins they needed to do so by overcoming a 3-1 series deficit.
They were facing the exact same situation this year.
With their 2-1 overtime win Friday night, the Rangers are right back in their series with the Washington Capitals and have an opportunity to force a Game 7 if they can win Sunday night.
While the Rangers are looking to keep the series going, the Capitals are trying to finish it and avoid the exact opposite situation — blowing a 3-1 series lead, something that has happened to that franchise several times in its existence. They are also looking to advance to the conference finals for the first time since 1998, when they went on to reach the Stanley Cup Final.
The Rangers didn’t really change their game plan in Game 5 to get the win. The biggest difference? They simply got a bounce or two to go their way, whether it was a shot deflecting in past Braden Holtby, or having a Capitals goal disallowed because Joel Ward ran into Henrik Lundqvist. That’s pretty much what their entire postseason — including this series — has been about. Play a 2-1 game and hope the one or two bounces that determine the outcome go their way. In the first round, they did. Until Friday, they hadn’t been quite as lucky in Round 2.
If they’re going to keep this series going they are going to need to find some of the offense that has not been there this postseason, scoring more than two goals just twice in their 10 playoff games. Going up against a goalie that has been as good as Holtby has been this postseason, I’m just not sure they have that in them right now.
Pick: Capitals 3, Rangers 1
Calgary Flames at Anaheim Ducks, Game 5, 10 p.m. ET, NBCSN
Ducks lead series, 3-1
The Capitals-Rangers series isn’t the only one that can see a team advance Sunday night.
The Anaheim Ducks also have a chance to move on if they can beat the Calgary Flames at home. And while Capitals superstar forward Alex Ovechkin is looking to advance to his first conference final, his former coach, Ducks bench boss Bruce Broudreau, is looking to do the same thing.
For as much regular-season success as the Ducks have had in recent years, the playoff success has not always matched it. They haven’t advanced beyond the second round since 2006-07, when they won the Stanley Cup.
So far this postseason the Ducks have looked like one of the best teams in the field and have been one of the few that has not been slowed down offensively by the clutch-and-grab, defensive shell game that every other team in the league seems to be playing.
The Ducks are 7-1 in the playoffs and have scored at least three goals in seven out of their eight games. Even though they have only played in eight games they are tied for the most goals (32, with Chicago) in the playoffs and have by far the NHL’s best goal differential in the playoffs at plus-16. No other team has a goal differential better than plus-4. They’re not only scoring goals and winning games, they’re scoring a lot of goals and winning big. More teams should follow that path.
Pick: Ducks 4, Flames 2
Three star
1. Braden Holtby, Washington Capitals: He has simply been the best goalie in the playoffs, and even though he was on the losing end of the Game 6 decision Friday night the Rangers needed a ton of chances and a little bit of luck to get even two in the net behind him. He is the biggest reason the Capitals are still playing and have a chance to move on.
2. Jakob Silfverberg, Anaheim Ducks: It’s easy to get overlooked when you’re playing on the same team as Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf, but Silfverberg is averaging more than a point per game (nine points in eight games) this postseason and has been one of the Ducks’ best and most productive players. Acquired as the key player in the trade that sent Bobby Ryan to the Ottawa Senators during the summer of 2013, it is not a stretch to think that Silfverberg has already turned into a better player than the man he was traded for.
3. Ryan Getzlaf, Anaheim Ducks: And then there is Getzlaf, who enters Sunday with 12 points in eight games, including a league-leading 10 assists this postseason. He has had a few games where he has been shut out, but when he scores he usually does so in a big way, with four multipoint games.
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.
