Which team should Golden Knights fans root for in Game 7 of Eastern Conference Final?

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Alex Brandon / AP

Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin misses a shot as Golden Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb defends, Sunday, Feb. 4, 2018, in Washington.

Tue, May 22, 2018 (2 a.m.)

Wednesday night in Tampa Bay, the Lightning and Capitals will battle in a winner-take-all Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final for the right to face the Golden Knights.

Golden Knights players will be doing the same thing as most of their fans — watching it from their couches.

If the Capitals win, the Golden Knights will host Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final Monday, May 28, at T-Mobile Arena. If it’s the Lightning, the Golden Knights will begin the series on the road.

The question now is, who should the Golden Knights want to play?

Here are three reasons for each option, and you can decide whom to root for in Wednesday’s crucial Game 7.

Why to root for Washington

1. Home ice advantage

The biggest difference between who Vegas plays is that the Golden Knights will have home ice advantage against the Capitals but not the Lightning. That’s significant because of how unbelievably good the Golden Knights have been at T-Mobile Arena. While home teams have a losing record overall in these Stanley Cup playoffs, the Golden Knights are 6-1 at home with their only loss coming in double overtime after a game-winning goal was waived off.

2. Golden Knights have shown they can contain Alex Ovechkin

It’s never an easy task to shut down the NHL’s leading scorer, but Vegas has shown it can do it as well as anyone. In the two meetings during the regular season, Ovechkin was held to zero goals, zero assists and only four shots on goal. The Golden Knights’ relentless forecheck and backcheck takes Ovechkin’s time and space away, making his life difficult.

3. Marc-Andre Fleury has a history with the Capitals

The story of the Washington Capitals franchise over the last decade has been a great regular-season team that can’t beat the Pittsburgh Penguins in the playoffs. This season they finally beat the a Fleury-less Penguins to reach this point. Fleury is 22-12-2 against the Capitals in his career, shut them out in Game 7 of the playoffs last year to end their season, and shut them out this season as a Golden Knight.

Why to root for Tampa Bay

1. Style of play

While regular season results don’t always translate to the playoffs, it’s worth noting that the Golden Knights went 2-0 this season, beating the Lightning in Las Vegas and Tampa Bay. While every postseason opponent thus far (Kings, Sharks and Winnipeg) have played a physical brand of hockey to try to slow Vegas down, the Lightning will allow them to play their fast, transition style of hockey and that’s good news for the Golden Knights.

2. Tampa Bay’s weak penalty kill

So far in the playoffs the Golden Knights have faced the NHL’s No. 1 penalty kill (Los Angeles), No. 2 penalty kill (San Jose) and No. 9 penalty kill (Winnipeg) and understandably haven’t had great success. Vegas has scored only 9 power-play goals on 51 opportunities through the first three rounds, but that could change drastically if Tampa Bay is the matchup. The Lightning ranks 27th in the league in penalty kill, and the Golden Knights went 4-for-5 with a man advantage during their Dec. 19 win over Tampa Bay.

3. Golden Knights can steal one quickly

The Lightning have shown a tendency to start series slowly, losing their first home game in each of the last two against Boston and Washington. If the Golden Knights can win one in Tampa Bay they will steal home-ice advantage and put tremendous pressure on the Lightning coming back to Las Vegas (similar to Winnipeg).

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