Washington Capitals Advance, Will Face Pittsburgh Penguins in Stanley Cup Second Round Again

After losing the first two games of their first round Stanley Cup playoff series at home to the Columbus Blue Jackets, it looked like the Capitals would again have to explain why they could have another underachieving post season after a very good regular season. But after Washington kicked it into high gear and swept the next four to win the series and advance to the second round, the Blue Jackets are the ones who have the explaining to do.

Alex Ovechkin scored a pair of goals as the Capitals downed the Blue Jackets 6-3 in Columbus to win the decisive sixth game. After what looked like such a promising beginning to the series, the Blue Jackets will go into the summer still looking for the franchise’s first post season series win.

Columbus was 0-16 on power plays in those four losses after going four for eight in the two wins. Goalie Sergei Bobrovsky is great during the regular season–he’s 218-129 with a 2.44 goals against average and .920 save percentage in his career–but is now just 5-14 with a 3.49 GAA and .891 save percentage in 24 post season games over five seasons. Washington also shut down Artemi Panarin in the final three games. Panarin had 82 points to lead the Blue Jackets in the regular season, and scored two goals and had five assists in the first three games before the Capitals held him without a point in those last three.

Panarin was a great pickup from the Blackhawks this year, and the Blue Jackets are a pretty decent team overall, but they aren’t quite at the elite level yet. We’ll see what kind of moves they make in the off season. Meanwhile, Washington, which is at the elite level despite disappointing its fans by not winning a Cup, will face playoff nemesis Pittsburgh in the second round. The Penguins have eliminated the Capitals in the second round each of the last two seasons on their way to winning the Stanley Cup each time.