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Hello, everybody, and welcome into our first or if you're watching this, this is the first
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one we're recording, but our first playoff preview show here on the YouTube channel
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We've done this for the last, I think, 23 seasons now, and we're right into the playoffs
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here. We're going to start with the New York Rangers and the Washington Capitals, which
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was just finalized yesterday as we're recording this because the Capitals just made it in
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on an empty net goal against the Flyers, eliminating a bunch of teams by doing that, and they make
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it in. So I've got a couple writers there, the hockey writers, Jacob Billington, Jim
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Bay. Jim Bay is going to step in for the Rangers, and we got Jacob covering the Capitals on
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this video. So welcome, guys. Thanks for coming on. Yeah, thanks for having me
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Oh, thanks for having me. Yes, always, always fun to talk about hockey, especially the playoffs
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Yes, for sure. I know, Jacob, your senators are not in the playoffs, but Jim, you got
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Lightning back in, and we'll probably have you on for the Lightning preview show. But
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let's get started with this series. And this pits the President's Trophy winners, New York
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Rangers, against, well, the last place team. This is probably the purest one versus eight
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matchup. The Capitals have a ridiculously bad goal differential. If you look at their
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numbers, they probably shouldn't be in the playoffs. But here they are. You never know
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with a team like this. So let's go over a bit just as a primer here. The Capitals and
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the Rangers, even season series, two and two. I mean, you'd think that this is a one versus
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eight, but it was a tie season series. Charlie Lindgren was in for three of the games, and
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he played. He was really good. Kemper only got into one game, and Lindgren had a shutout
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His save 1.35 goals against average 955 save percentage in the three games. So I'm assuming
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he is going to be the starter in this series, and I know he was down the stretch too. So
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and of course, Igor Shosturkin started three of those games as well. So, you know, you're
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thinking it's going to be Lindgren, Shosturkin in this series. As for who led in players
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Anthony Manta was the only one, but he's not even on the Capitals anymore. Ovechkin didn't
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score in the season series. He only played two of the games too. So, you know, he wasn't
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really prominent. Even for the Rangers, no one really stood out in the season series
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as being dominant. So looking at this on paper, they look pretty even, evenly matched on how
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they've played together against each other during the season. So really, it's even. But
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on paper, for the players, it's not. So let's start with some players to watch as we're..
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Actually, before we get there, I'll start with you, Jacob, with the Capitals. You know
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like I said, it's a one versus eight. It's they look like they're going to get blown
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out for nothing. Is that how you see it? Looking at how they've played throughout the season
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and is this going to be an easy series for the Rangers or will they put up a fight
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They've had some pretty good highs. They've had some very low lows. If you look at their stats
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Anthony Manta led the team in plus minus at plus five and he hasn't been on the team in a month
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a month and a half. So like they've their lows were very low and like they finished the season
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with what was it a minus 37 goal differential. Just absolutely abysmal. But they've had some
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really good streaks, especially in the last two months. They've done really well. I'd like to see
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the splits. I probably should look that up, but I'd like to see the split between from February 1st
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until the end of the season, see how they were, see how just the team performed. Because I think
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that they had some really good stretches down the last bit of the season, but they didn't have any
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superstars this season. They didn't have any, they hardly had any depth scoring. I mean
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they only had three players with more than 35 points this season, which is incredible that
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this kind of team makes the playoffs. But like you mentioned, Charlie Lindgren's played really
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good hockey. So let's, let's see what he can do in the playoffs. Yeah. And that, and that's the
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thing. I mean, I think he's, he was starting a lot of the games towards the end. So he's pretty much
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their starters taking over Darcy Kemper's job and looking at how he played against the Rangers
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throughout the season. You'd probably go with him because he pretty much dominated. Over to you, Jim
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what do you think about the Rangers this season? I mean, they don't, I mean, obviously won
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President's Trophy, had their best regular season in a long time, franchise record, I believe
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for how many wins they got. So what do you see this series playing out? Is that, is it
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is it that it's going to be a dominant series for them or are they going to have some issues
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with Washington? I think you're going to have some issues with Washington. I mean
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you got Alex Ovechkin on the other side, you know, that's just going to be, you know, he
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he can still at his age do so much for that team. You know, he's a guy who could, you know, put him
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in, you know, pick him up and put him on his back and, you know, carry him to some wins and
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you know, even possibly a series victory. I don't see that happening. As Jacob pointed out
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they have some depth issues and stuff. And I think when you get into the playoffs
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that's the big key. The Rangers, on the other hand, have, you know, when they've done well
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they started out really good, and then they had a couple of months where they were eh
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but then, you know, they're like 26-8-1 over their last 35 games. They're doing what you want
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a playoff team to do, which is trending in the right direction, not just kind of going like
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yeah, we're going to play 500 all the way through and whatever. They're actually playing, you know
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really, really well. So, you know, that should give them, you know, you know, and their fans
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a lot of confidence going into this series that they should, not easily, but they should be able
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to handle the Capitals. Yeah. It's like I say, on paper, it looks like a pretty easy, easy series
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for them, but when playoffs start, it goes to zero, and it doesn't matter who won how many games
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during the season, who dominated, it resets. So, and we've seen that many times. Bruins got kicked
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in the first round, and they had an NHL record season last year. So, anything can happen
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All right, let's move to some players to watch. Now, I'll start with you, Jim. You know
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obviously, all the top guys, Artemi Panarin had a ridiculous season, over 100 points
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I, you know, all their main guys did it. Is that who you'll be watching, their stars
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or some of their depth guys are going to have to kind of step up? Well, the, you know, the Panarin
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line, you know, those trio of guys that he's played with for most of the, who is it, Trochak
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and Lafayette, I think they're among, if not the top scoring trio in the NHL. So, they certainly
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have that, and you certainly got to watch them. You really, you know, want them to continue that
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The guys I'm going to watch, especially the two, have kind of had a mixed season, and that's
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you know, the top line, you know, Mika Zabandijad and Chris Kreider, you know, they've been good
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but they've had a lot of ups and downs. And, you know, I'm going to wait to see, you know, Kreider
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is usually, like, great in the playoffs. So, that'll be, you know, something to watch for
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You know, there'll be a few other things. Their depth pieces are good. You know, what you want
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them to do is keep you in the game. You don't want them to do things to, you know, put this
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you know, going on the penalty kill too much or doing different things like that, too many
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turnovers, you know, all of that stuff. And I think those groups are going to be fine
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You know, their defense is solid, you know, Jacob Truba, Adam Fox, Keandre Miller, you know
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just a really solid group. So, you know, their depth, I think, for the Keys to watch are going
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to be the keys in, you know, beating the Capitals. And how well they play is how easy they're going
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to make it. For sure. They are definitely a deeper, way deeper team than the Capitals
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So, we'll stick on that, Jacob. What do you think with the Capitals? I mean, Alex Ovechkin
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still their headliner, he really took set. I mean, he wasn't really that good at the beginning
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of the season. I thought, oh no, he's not going to hit 20 goals this season. He was really, but now he's over 30 again and seems to be on track. Is that who you're watching or are you
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going to be watching some other pieces that are going to have to step up if they have any chance
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against the Rangers? Yeah, he didn't, Ovechkin did not have a good start to the season, but his
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last 30 games have been absolutely dynamite. I look to see him continue that into the playoffs
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and I think that he, I think that he will. He's always done pretty well in the playoffs, but two
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names I'm going to keep an eye on is Dylan Strom, who led the team in points this year with 67 in
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82 games. He's had a fantastic year and he's fitting really well in, he's fitting in very
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well in Washington and doing great things with Ovechkin. Another player I'm going to watch is
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Connor McMichael, a pretty young guy, but he's going to be, he's going to be a really important
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part of this team and of how they're going to be successful. He did finish fifth on the team in
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points. Well, Mantha finished fifth, but he's not there anymore. So he finished sixth. And mind you
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that's only 33 points. That's not incredible, but he just provides some really good depth. And I
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think that his game could elevate in the playoffs as well. I think that there's a lot to like about
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what Connor McMichael can bring. And I mean, he almost scored 20 goals this season and Washington
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fans have started to get a little bit impatient waiting for him, but he's here. He's here and
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he's ready to play. And I think that he's going to do really well. Another player I do want to throw in there is Alexey Protis. I always want to say Poitra from the Bruins, but Protis. He's
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done really well in the bottom six. He's been a pretty important part of how they play. And of
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course you got guys like TJ O'Shea, Nick Dowd, and these guys that are going to really help just
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be hard to play against. And that's kind of what Washington is going to need. Yeah. I mean, they've definitely got some playoff experience. I mean, Ovechkin's won a cup. John
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Carlson, you know, he's, he's the leader back there on the back end. He still can, can make
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a difference. And I think the biggest thing in this series is going to be the goaltending. And
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if Lingering can play the same as he'd been the regular season, you know, I Rangers may have some
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problems. So I don't know. I it's going to be interesting. So on that keys to victory, I Jacob
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how, what do the capitals have to do to make the upset and kick off another president's trophy
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winner? So when I, when I looked at that question, yes, goaltending came to mind
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but with how kind of steady it's been, it's not really one of the things that really needs to be
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a huge standout. For me, it's depth scoring. And I don't just mean the bottom six because the bottom
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six is pretty good, but they just have some bottom sixers in the top six. Like it's just
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from the top to the bottom. So I guess actually I would rephrase it to high end scoring
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They just haven't had any of that and they need some players to score more than just a handful
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of points. They're going to need more than what they got in the regular season. And I wouldn't
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be surprised if they got it. Like you do look at these guys that they have, like I mentioned
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TJ Oshi, Connor McMichael, Tom Wilson. I wouldn't be surprised to see them score
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a point to game in the first round, maybe not throw it a whole playoff run, but
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in the first round, I wouldn't be surprised to see them pop off and get six, seven points. Yeah. I mean, like I said, there, they do have some veterans as well that
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know how to play in the playoffs. Tom Wilson is definitely a guy that can do that
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So yeah, it's going to be interesting to see if their depth can actually come
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because they're going to need it against the Rangers for sure. And it'll be interesting to see how Max patch already comes. Right. He only played 47 games
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this season. People kind of forget that he's even playing like he's had a really quiet season
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only 23 points on the season. So he didn't have a huge season, but again, he missed a lot of time
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over the past year, past year and a half. And it's just, it's going to be really interesting to see
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how he can do in the playoffs because like he's, he's shown that he can be good in the playoffs
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He's also shown to be a little bit quiet sometimes. So I'm going to see what version
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of Max patch ready we get this year. And if he can elevate himself in the playoffs
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then he's going to be a huge contributor on this team. For sure. All right, Jim, how are the Rangers
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going to avoid an upset? Cause I mean, the president's trophy winners haven't really
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fared very well over the last few years. So how are they going to beat that curse
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Well, the first thing you have to do in this and every other series is play Ranger hockey
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which is, you know, very structured. They have a ton of talent. They have great goaltending
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If they do that, you know, they have a really good shot to, you know, you know, get rid of that
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president's trophy jinx curse or whatever you want to call it. The other thing they need to do is to
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not let Tom Wilson get in their heads, which he does so well. And it's easy to say not to do it
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and you shouldn't do it, but he's good at it. And one of the things that the Rangers sometimes have
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issues with are taking penalties. So, you know, the ability to do something like that, there is a
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lot of, I don't know if it's bad blood, but they have a lot of history from regular season
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different things. And the New York media is already kind of picking that up. There was already
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the story from two years ago when Wilson cross-checked Artemi Panarin, who didn't have
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his helmet on and all the league did was fine him $5,000 and the Rangers lost their mind
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Called out the director, player safety, if you don't, you know, know this or remember this
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if you're not like particularly a Rangers fan, you know, it's a big thing. So they're bringing
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that back up and that's, you know, the New York distractions that don't happen in a lot of other
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markets are very big here. So shutting all of that out, not letting Wilson get in their heads
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you know, Ovechkin's going to do Ovechkin stuff. You know, he's going to, you know, he's going to
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get some goals. He's going to do some things, but, you know, again, eliminating, you know
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not letting their depth pieces do anything to help them out, you know, and then playing the
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Ranger hockey and Shesterkin being Shesterkin, you know, and the great thing about that is
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Quick had a good year too. You know, if an injury happens, if for some reason they need a little
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change of pace, a spark they can bring Quick in, you know, to, you know, hold down the fort until
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you know, they could turn things around. So, you know, there's a lot of, a lot of upsides for them
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but there's still a few, you know, pitfalls they need to avoid to, you know, get upset in this
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series. For sure. I mean, you moved into our next question and you know, Jacob, but what
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what could the Capitals Achilles heel be in this series that you're kind of worried that
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could potentially make it an easy one for the Rangers to win
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I kind of contradict myself with this based on the last thing that I said, but I'm going to say the goaltending. I do think that, I mean, you see Aiden Hill won the Stanley cup last year with
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Vegas, but you don't see these backup level goalies do do these magical runs all the time
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And Charlie Lindgren's had a fantastic season. You kind of look at how Connor Ingram did in
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Arizona this year. He did absolutely fantastic. And then he just kind of fell off. And I
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I'm a little bit worried that that could happen with Charlie Lindgren, but he's been so consistent over the whole season. I mean, he played 50 games this season and he
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finished with, I believe a nine 11 save percentage. Like that's, that's pretty solid
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especially in a year with such high scoring. And so I, I do worry that he might not be the guy in
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the playoffs and I, I trust him more than Darcy Kemper. And so if something happens with
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Lindgren, then I'm not sure that Kemper can be another option. I mean, Kemper's he's won a cup. He was also really, I mean, he was average though. He wasn't
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the reason the cap, the Avalanche won the cup. It was solid. It was good. So, I mean
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and the Avalanche definitely a different team than the Capitals, a hundred percent. They're more like the Rangers. So yeah, that's going to be interesting to see how the goal
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tending kind of plays out. All right. Jim, is that your, the weakness you're worried about is that
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Tom Wilson could potentially get in their heads and maybe draw some penalties and they get in
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trouble that way, kind of throw them off their game. Yeah. If any of the, you know, weaknesses
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that the Rangers have, you know, their stats for everything else has been at the top of the league
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in penalty minutes, they were kind of middling and they have a tendency every once in a while
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to lose their temper and lose their focus. And, you know, against in the playoffs and against
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you know, the master of doing it, Tom Wilson, I know Vetchkin's pretty good too. You'll, you'll
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anybody will tell you he's one of the best trash talkers in the league. So, you know, they have to
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you know, stay out of the thing and that will bring the other piece of this in, you know
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jumping to like, you know, the, you know, the X factors, you know, for the Rangers, they've got
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this guy named Matt Remke, who, you know, has a tendency to like to get in some scuffles. Now
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generally they say, well, they don't fight in the playoffs. That's not entirely true anymore
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but he's also a very young player. A lot of people that's been quoted as saying a lot of
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good things about putting him in there and, you know, being able to handle the big moment
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I want to see that. I want to either see, I want to see it on the ice, you know, with a puck. And
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I also want to see it without a puck because he's going to have to, at this point, take the discipline
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not to get goaded into things that are going to put, you know, the Rangers, you know, on the
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on the, you know, penalty kill so often and some other players too. But Remke's kind of the, the
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new kid on the block, the unknown factor, you know, so that'll be real last thing you see. And
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that's, that's kind of one of their big, they also have a tendency to kind of sometimes, you know
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the thing to worry about is they, they get out of what they do. All of a sudden you're looking like
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you know, all, you know, trying to do too much is the pressure going to do. They don't have to press
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They just have to play Ranger hockey. I mean, you know, they're, they're just so good and so
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talented up and down the line, play your game. Like, you know, Herb Brooks, play your game
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play, you got to play your game. And if they get out of that, then, you know, that could
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that could spill a little bit of trouble. Yeah. I, yeah. Remke is a, is someone to really
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watch because he could get into the trouble, especially if Tom Wilson gets under his skin
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and he starts kind of just running around and that could be a problem. So, I mean
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he probably won't be playing it then. I'd be like, no, you're sitting. We don't need you in the lineup. Yeah. So that's going to be an interesting one for sure
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Jacob, what about you for X factors? Is there an X factor that could potentially
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turn the tide in this series? It could be a player, could be a situation. What do you got
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I mean, Ovechkin obviously is the X factor. That's a little bit of a cop out of an answer
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So I'm going to go with Tom Wilson for all the reasons that Jim just mentioned. He, he can take over a series and not even score a single point. It's just him being Tom Wilson is
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going to like how effective he is in being himself is going to dictate how the series goes. And he
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has the power to take New York off their game. They might not be able to play their game if
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Tom Wilson is being Tom Wilson, because that's just, that's what he does. And that's what he's
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really good at. Like you mentioned, Jim, that was a fantastic kind of description of what he does
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And again, I was going to mention that with Matt Rempey, he, if he gets under the skin of Matt
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Rempey and gets him to maybe take a major or a couple extra minors or whatever it's going to be
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I do think that I do think that Tom Wilson can be the biggest game changer in the series
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Yeah. I mean, he's the prototypical playoff guy that, I mean, it could go either way too. Like
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he could be that the Rempey as well, right? He's had that for those problems too. So we'll see
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which version of Tom Wilson that the, you know, the Capitals get, they need the guy that does
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what you guys both both described. So he's definitely capable. All right, moving to series
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MVPs. Now some of these could be easy ones. I mean, a lot of these, a lot of these stars usually
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come to play. But it could also be a third or fourth liner. Jacob, who's your series MVP? And
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you could pick between the two teams who you think is going to be the biggest star in this series
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This is tough. I mean, I think if Washington wins, it's going to be Charlie Lindgren. It's
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going to have to be. But I think little spoiler for our predictions, but I think the Rangers
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going to win. And I think that it's going to be, I think it's going to have to be Panarin or Adam
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Fox. I think I might go with Fox just because Panarin is a superstar that everybody knows
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and everybody's watching this year. I'm going to go with Fox. He very, very dynamic. He's one of
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the best defensemen in the NHL. People kind of haven't talked about him too much this year
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even though he's had an incredible year. Just maybe not to his standards. It's not one of his best
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But I think that he is going to be one of the quietly one of the best players in the whole
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playoffs this year. If the Rangers going to run. Yeah, well, he's again, that Norris trophy winner
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He's a he's definitely capable of being that. So we'll see what what what he does, Jim, who would
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your series and who who's your series MVP? I mean, like I say, it could be either team
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Yeah, I'm going to like I believe the Rangers are going to win, so I'm going to go and I know
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I sound kind of chalky, but you got to go with Igor Sasturka because if they're going to win
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um, you know, he's got to play his game. He had a rough patch, you know, in the middle part of the
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year. There's always that kind of little doubt in the back of your head going like, was that just a
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you know, was something going on? What was going on? But it looks like he's, you know, right of
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the ship. He's playing, you know, like we all, you know, know Igor can and I definitely think he's
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going to, you know, really make his presence felt it. I don't see probably now they'll come
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out and be seven six the first game, but I don't see, you know, the Capitals, you know, scoring
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too much. You know, we're talking about the goalies and, you know, saying low scoring
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you know, then you come out and they, you know, put up big numbers. But I think it'll be the
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MVP will be in the series. It'll be Shusterkin. Yeah, it probably will happen. Five, four game
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or something. Yeah, we'll see. All right. Prediction time. Now, I love doing these
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bold predictions. I so Jacob, a bold prediction for this series. It could be for either team
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if you want. Jonathan quick plays at least two, two and a half games. That's my bold prediction
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I think that yeah, I just think whether it's going to be because of injury, probably not
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You Shusterkin has been relatively healthy for quite a while. But I'm going to say that
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Jonathan quick plays two and a half games. All right, Jim, what about you? A bold prediction
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for this series? My bold prediction is going to be in the series clinching game for the Rangers
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The winning goal is scored by Ryan Lindgren against his brother. Oh, nice. That's a good
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one. Love it. That's great. All right. Now you guys both said the Rangers are going to win this
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series. So let's go How many games? So how many games will this go? Jacob, we'll start with you
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I'm gonna go seven. I don't think it's going to be an easy out. I think that this is a really good matchup for Washington. Like if they're playing a team like Florida, I think they get
24:35
obliterated. But I don't know what it is. But I'm not 100% sold on the Rangers. I mean, they just
24:41
won the President's Trophy. They just had a fantastic regular season, but I'm not 100% sold
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and not that I think Washington is the best underdog story that there could be, or the best
24:52
underdog team. But I really like the matchup for Washington compared to other potential candidates
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for who they could have gone up against. And I do think that it's going to go seven. All right, Jim, what about you? Is that you think it's going seven or less than that
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I think it's gonna go. Yeah, I think it's gonna be in six. I think Rangers in six
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Again, I think they just have, you know, too much firepower. And it actually wouldn't surprise me to
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see him do it in five or even sweep. So, you know, we said the Capitals, you know, they've got the
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talent, but they've also got a lot of gaps. And if the Rangers can exploit that, you know, I think
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it'll be a quicker series than even what we're saying. Yeah, I think it's going to go six as
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well. I think the Capitals are going to put up a little bit of a fight, but the Rangers, I think
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it's just going to be, they're just too deep and goaltending can be something. I think Shestercan
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is going to be Shestercan in this series. I think it's going to be, it's going to be a six. And
25:52
and yeah, I don't like sweeps. I don't like saying sweeps because usually that doesn't
25:57
happen. It's usually either one, at least one, the teams win at least one game. They don't like
26:03
the sweep. So I, I'm going to say it's six. I think, I think the Capitals win a couple
26:09
All right. Well, thanks Jacob. Thanks Jim, for coming on and previewing this series that we'll
26:13
see who's going to be back for the next one and talking. So they haven't met in the playoff since
26:22
2015. So this is a new series, but we've seen some repeats and we have some repeats in this
26:28
playoffs again, but this is a new one. It's been, it's been a while since they've met. So a lot of
26:34
the, well, you know, veterans still here. Oh, she's still here. I mean, there's still veterans
26:38
that have been from that, those playoffs, but yeah, it should be fun, but thanks for coming on
26:44
and make sure checking out all of our stuff at DocuRiders.com. We got all a bunch of preview
26:50
episodes in the works. We'll have one for every series, but until, until our next one
26:55
we'll see you on another episode on the, on the HockeyRiders YouTube channel here