NHL Playoffs 2012: Why This Year's Capitals Are Better Suited Than Last Year's

Playoff hockey begins tonight, and for once, all eyes aren’t focused on Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals.

The Capitals are set to face the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Boston Bruins, in their first-round playoff matchup beginning Thursday night.

The Capitals have had an underachieving season which is why they are entering the playoffs as the seventh-seeded team—a dropoff from the past. Depending on how things unfold, they might decide they like it better.

All the talk in the Eastern Conference has been about New York, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, with no mention of the Capitals.

It seems like every season they’re at the top of the Eastern Conference, which results in high expectations. There’s no Stanley Cup expectation this season unlike years past. Not only is this unfamiliar territory for the Capitals, but it’s also unfamiliar territory for their opponents in general. How would you feel drawing a team with three superstars in the first round?

Truth be told, the Capitals may be better suited this way.

We all know how dominant the Capitals can be, but this time there aren’t any expectations to go along with them in the playoffs. Rewind to previous seasons when the Capitals were finishing at the top of the conference. When the Capitals lost in the playoffs, the talk was all about how they choked.

If they are one-and-done this time around, who cares? They weren’t good enough in the regular season anyway.

My point being is that there’s no pressure facing the Capitals this time around. It bodes well because they weren’t able to face the pressure in past postseason runs.

For his whole career, Alex Ovechkin has drawn comparisons to Sidney Crosby. Whether or not he’s a better player or whether or not he’ll ever achieve what Crosby’s achieved in the playoffs, it’s time for Ovechkin to take the pressure off and just go out there and perform when it matters most.

With no pressure facing the Capitals this year, they’re primed for an upset over the Bruins.