No. 1-ranked regular-season team Washington faces a moment of truth tonight when it faces No. 1-ranked playoff team Pittsburgh in Game 6 of their Round 2 series.
The Capitals were an easy choice for tops in the 7-Eleven Power Ranking as 2016-17’s best team but they’ve been supplanted for a fourth straight week by the Penguins in the post-season.
TSN’s expert panel of Ray Ferraro, Jeff O’Neill, Jamie McLennan, Craig Button and Darren Dreger has Pittsburgh at No. 1 and Washington at No. 6. Alex Ovechkin’s Capitals have never advanced past the second round of the playoffs and could be sent packing tonight.
The Penguins, meanwhile, are out to end one of the NHL’s most curious streaks: The regular season’s highest-scoring team hasn’t won the Stanley Cup since Mario Lemieux’s Penguins in 1992. Pittsburgh scored 16 more goals than any other team this season and is leading the playoffs with 3.7 goals per game.