2018 Washington Capitals vs 2019 St.Louis Blues in a 7 game series

[Iggys Dome]

Both franchises ended their Stanley Cup droughts back to back, but who would win in a 7 game series between these two (assume a neutral venue)?

Capitals
Coach: Barry Trotz

Ovechkin – Kuznetsov – Wilson
Vrana – Backstrom – Oshie
Burakovsky – Eller – Connolly
Stephenson – Beagle – DSP

Kempny – Carlson
Orlov – Niskanen
Orpik – Djoos

Holtby


Blues
Coach: Craig Berube

Schwartz - Schenn - Tarasenko
Sanford - O'Reilly - Perron
Maroon - Bozak - Blais
Barbashev - Sundqvist - Steen

Gunnarsson - Pietrangelo
Bouwmeester - Parayko
Edmundson - Dunn

Binnington

Click to read more...

 

[centipede2233]

Washington beat 2 time cup champs in Pitt. Kuznetsov and ovie are the 2 best players in this series in win

 

[KoozNetsOff 92]

Washington beat 2 time cup champs in Pitt. Kuznetsov and ovie are the 2 best players in this series in win

Backstrom is better than every Blues forward as well.

 

[KoozNetsOff 92]

Caps stomp.

 

[Michael HOMERUNing]

That Blues roster proves that at the end of the day, if your goalie gets hot at the right time you have a chance to win no matter how the rest of your team looks

 

[Dr Salt]

That Blues roster proves that at the end of the day, if your goalie gets hot at the right time you have a chance to win no matter how the rest of your team looks

the caps also had a hot goalie lol

 

[Bounces R Way]

Don't think anyone was stopping that 2018 Caps team. They were an absolute buzzsaw.

 

[TheGoldenGod]

Small detail fix for STL but overall looks good

Maroon - Bozak - Thomas

I lean Washington but I think this would be a closer series than the poll suggests. It would also be a blood bath given the physical style of both of these teams.

 

[Miro4Norris]

Toss-up, nothing like these results suggest. As a Pens fan, I would say that 2016 and 2017 Caps teams were way better than the 2018 one in Penguins-series imo. Pens controlled the games but Holtby's beast-mode vs Murray's easy goals cost us that series

 

[jetsforever]

Caps in 7

 

[JaegerDice]

Blues in 7.

 

[Thallis]

That Blues roster proves that at the end of the day, if your goalie gets hot at the right time you have a chance to win no matter how the rest of your team looks

Binnington had a negative GSAA in those playoffs. It was defense and possession that won, goaltending was just average.

 

[KoozNetsOff 92]

Toss-up, nothing like these results suggest. As a Pens fan, I would say that 2016 and 2017 Caps teams were way better than the 2018 one in Penguins-series imo. Pens controlled the games but Holtby's beast-mode vs Murray's easy goals cost us that series

What do the pens have to do with anything? The 16 and 17 caps were better (on paper) than the 18 caps, but that doesn't mean the 18 caps weren't better than the 19 blues.

 

[Miro4Norris]

What do the pens have to do with anything? The 16 and 17 caps were better (on paper) than the 18 caps, but that doesn't mean the 18 caps weren't better than the 19 blues.

Pens fans might have a better touch to evaluate those Caps teams than fans of many other teams as we met every year in playoffs. Not really the answer to the question but some people before my text writed that 2018 Caps team was very special, I am saying that it really wasn't better than teams in years before

 

[ESH]

That Blues roster proves that at the end of the day, if your goalie gets hot at the right time you have a chance to win no matter how the rest of your team looks

Binnington wasn’t even that great in the playoffs

 

[Johnny Tomala]

Two of the weakest Stanley Cup winners in salary cap era (along with Hurricanes). Capitals in 6, at least they had Ovechkin.

 

[Mike Liut]

Blues had a great D and could roll 4 lines and wear you out. Big, physical team.

 

[Varan]

Two of the weakest Stanley Cup winners in salary cap era (along with Hurricanes). Capitals in 6, at least they had Ovechkin.

Today I learned that the Capitals beating the:

• Back-to-back Champs
• #1 in the East
• #3 in the West in the Finals
• 2 top-5 seeded teams in the NHL

was a weak win. Interesting

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

Pens fans might have a better touch to evaluate those Caps teams than fans of many other teams as we met every year in playoffs. Not really the answer to the question but some people before my text writed that 2018 Caps team was very special, I am saying that it really wasn't better than teams in years before

16 and 17 caps were better on paper but would have mental lapses every game for a few minutes that the pens were able to capitalize on. 18 caps that pretty much went away and they seemed mentally stronger.

 

[KoozNetsOff 92]

Pens fans might have a better touch to evaluate those Caps teams than fans of many other teams as we met every year in playoffs. Not really the answer to the question but some people before my text writed that 2018 Caps team was very special, I am saying that it really wasn't better than teams in years before

That's great but is completely irrelevant. Also, even if the 2018 caps were worse than 16 and 17, they can still be a special/great team themselves. I mean Pittsburgh themselves were better in 2016 than 2017, but that doesn't mean 2017 wasn't a great team too.

 

[yurnxt]

Don't think anyone was stopping that 2018 Caps team. They were an absolute buzzsaw.

I feel you could say the same thing for the 2019 Blues. It was simply their year and they were going to win regardless of who the opponent was.

 

[BlueMed]

Backstrom is better than every Blues forward as well.

ROR would eat Backstrom's face off

 

[KoozNetsOff 92]

ROR would eat Backstrom's face off

ROR is a 60pt C who plays good D. Backstrom is a PPG C who plays good D.

ROR in 2019 had 23pts in 26 games. Backstrom in 2018 had 23pts in 20 games, playing with broken fingers. And no he wasn't playing with OV.

 

[JoVel]

I don't see how Caps don't roll over them.

 

[Mike Liut]

I don't see how Caps don't roll over them.

Because the Blues D and 2 way players. They’d shut you down