Did the Capitals prove they’re scary enough in the first round?

The Washington Capitals defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4-1 Wednesday night, which sealed a 4-1 first-round series victory for the club. It’s the first time the Capitals have advanced to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs since 2018, when they won their first championship in franchise history.

On Thursday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk discuss the Capitals series win and if they proved to be scary enough in the first round.

Tyler Yaremchuk: As much as I said I liked my line of thinking in picking the Canadiens, from the first game I thought, “Why did I pick them?” They put up a good fight, but it was clear who the better team was, and it was clear in Game 5 the Capitals were ready to go pedal-to-the-floor.

With a 4-1 victory, I think they answered a lot of questions: how would their young players who never played in the playoffs stand out? Connor McMichael was really effective in this series, and Alex Ovechkin’s goal record hangover? Well, he scored four goals in five games.

Frank Seravalli: I think as much as this series had the same score as Game 5, I kind of think it’s hard to take a step back and say this series was as lopsided as a 4-1 series might appear to be.

Montreal took them to overtime in Game 1, the Habs won Game 3, Game 2 they nearly tied in the third period, they blew a third-period lead in Game 4, and the most lopsided game of the series, from a territorial standpoint, was Game 5.

It’s a two-part thing: Yes, Montreal pushed them, but this was supposed to be easy for the Capitals. They have much more experience, they have a much bigger team that scores at ease all year. I kind of look at it not glass half-full or half-empty, but I don’t know if they necessarily changed my opinion of them.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…