With Game 1 between Washington and Tampa Bay dropping the puck tonight at 7 p.m. ET on Versus, we’ll get to see if the long layoff between games will have a positive or a negative effect on the Capitals. We’ll also get to see one of this year’s MVP candidates in Martin St. Louis go against three-time MVP Alex Ovechkin.
Where things in this series might get more interesting is in goal as you’ve got a battle between rookie Michal Neuvirth for Washington and 13-year veteran Dwayne Roloson. Roloson’s done awfully well against the Capitals this year going 2-2-1 with a 1.38 goals against average and a .958 save percentage with two shutouts.
Will those numbers carry over into the postseason though? We’ll find out starting tonight and Hockey Central’s Keith Jones and Jeremy Roenick take a look ahead to this Eastern Conference semifinal series.