Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Do You Consider the Washington Capitals A Cup Contender?

09/25/2017 at 10:38am EDT

from Tal Pinchevsky at ESPN,

"The expectations aren't as big from outside our locker room, but they're still the exact same inside," said Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby. "We have some young guys coming up who can bring some new energy and life and change the dynamic a bit. It will be nice to kind of just bear down and get to work right from the start with a good camp, a competitive camp. Zone everything out and just play."

That could prove challenging for a team that has established something of a regular-season reputation over the past 10 seasons, over which the Caps have seven first-place finishes and three Presidents' Trophies -- awarded to the team with the NHL's best regular-season record -- but not a single conference final appearance to show for it. During that span, Washington has a 3-7 record in Game 7s and has been eliminated three times by Pittsburgh, with the Penguins going on to hoist the Stanley Cup each time.

"We get a lot of grief because we haven't gotten by Pittsburgh, but I do know for a 100 percent fact that no one has gotten by Pittsburgh in the last two years in the playoffs. We're not the only ones," said Capitals coach Barry Trotz. "We have to put last year behind us. I look back at us and Pittsburgh in that seven-game series. That might have been the two best teams [in the league]."

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

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