Round 2 : Washington v Pittsburgh

[WaukeeBlues]

Back-breaker for the Caps.

If you're the GM this summer I'm not sure what else you can really do. Ovie needed a more skilled option on the other flank. Got Oshie. Check.

Needed clutch playoff performance. Get Justin Williams. Check. And he's played well.

Burakofsky and Kuznetsov utterly disappeared in the playoffs. They're still young but that lack of depth scoring was a killer. I'm not saying you get rid of them but that really hurt.

They were deep, especially on defense, you have one of the best goaltenders in the world... Like I said, I don't know what else you're expected to do.

[ecbm]

Back-breaker for the Caps.

If you're the GM this summer I'm not sure what else you can really do. Ovie needed a more skilled option on the other flank. Got Oshie. Check.

Needed clutch playoff performance. Get Justin Williams. Check. And he's played well.

Burakofsky and Kuznetsov utterly disappeared in the playoffs. They're still young but that lack of depth scoring was a killer. I'm not saying you get rid of them but that really hurt.

They were deep, especially on defense, you have one of the best goaltenders in the world... Like I said, I don't know what else you're expected to do.

Yeah, there's nothing obvious to fix. I certainly know that feeling. It sucks. I'd compare this loss for them to the Blues against LA the first time though. No excuses and you have to look to improve but it doesn't help to come up against the hottest team in the league over the last couple months.

I do believe Pittsburgh is riding a hot streak more than anything else. Their defense is still suspect and yeah, we might be seeing '86 Patrick Roy in Murray or we might be seeing Patrick Lalime: a goalie who happened to start his career with a very hot streak before becoming very average.

[theohall]

Losing Karl Alzner after the first period hurt the Capitals immensely. He is their best defensive defenseman and there is no one else on the roster capable of filling his minutes. Might have been a different outcome if he is available for the whole game.