Defending Champs Are Rocking!

For the first time in franchise history, the Washington Capitals enter the Stanley Cup Playoffs as the defending champions! It was something long overdue for the team from the capital of the United States. As legendary NHL broadcaster Mike "Doc Emrick" said when the Caps clinched the cup in Game 5 of last year's Stanley Cup Playoffs, "The capital of the country is the capital of the hockey playoffs!"

The Caps' first round opponent, the Carolina Hurricanes, are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2009, when they lost to the then-eventual champion Penguins in the Eastern Conference Finals. There is no current player on Carolina's roster that was on that playoff team. However, their coach, Rod Brind'Amour, was. In his first year as an NHL head coach, Brind'Amour led Carolina to a 46-29-7 regular season record and the first Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

 As for the Caps, their head coach, Todd Reirden, is a former assistant of Stanley Cup winning head coach Barry Trotz. Reirden was promoted to head coach after Barry Trotz became the head coach of the New York Islanders this offsesason. As for Reirden, he lead the Caps to a 48-26-8 record, good for first in the Metropolitan Division.

After the first 2 playoff games in this series, the Caps have won both games. Game 1, they won 4-2 and yesterday in Game 2, they won 4-3 in OT. Both games have been very competitive and physical on both sides so as this series shifts down to Carolina, it will continue to be very competitive.