Quote:
Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda
Just look at their schedule in the last 2 months of the season, 21 of their final 29 games were against non-playoff teams. They were absolutely coasting, I doubt players on either side were putting in that much of an effort playing so many bottom feeders. The caps however played 15 games against playoff teams in the last 2 months and were fighting for a better seed, they've been in playoff mode a lot longer than the Panthers have
Plus Bobrovsky always chokes in the big games
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So, we're just going to ignore the year he single-handedly eliminated the Tampa Bay Lightning juggernaut in the first round in 4 games?
kay...
To me this is about playing style and playoff experience, not about what happened in the regular season or the personnel. The Caps roster knows what it takes to win a cup and are playing the right way. Panthers are still learning. I thought they learned last year against Tampa, but alas, they still have a few players that have not been playoff performers added to the roster this year.
To me, this is about special teams.
Panthers PP has not scored a goal yet with 9 chances or so. In the regular season? 24.4% efficiency.
What about their PK? In the regular season they were a solid 79.5%...middle of the pack. In post season? An abysmal 66.7%.
This was the exact same story last year against Tampa Bay. They had a power play that scored at a high rate while the Panthers couldn't answer. Fix the special teams? It's probably a different series. Although they need to play with much more toughness if they expect to win anything.