Pittsburgh at Washington

Washington will try again to go deep in the Stanley Cup playoffs, but the Capitals must get past the defending champs. Washington lost two of three home games to Columbus with all three games going into overtime in the first round. Pittsburgh has won nine straight playoff series and it comes off an 8-5 victory over the Flyers as Jake Guentzel scored four straight goals at one point. The Penguins have learned to play through injuries to Patric Hornqvist and Evgeni Malkin and Matt Murray was not great, but good enough to get the Penguins past the first round. Pittsburgh has won five road games in a row and the Penguins are 24-8 their last 32 games with at least three days rest. Also, Pittsburgh is 40-17 its last 57 games after giving up five or more goals its previous game. The Capitals are 5-11 their last 16 conference semifinal games. Take the Penguins.