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On Crosby v. Turris

May 20, 2013, 1:29 PM ET [273 Comments]
Travis Yost
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One of the big things that's going to get lost in the midst of Ottawa's thrilling comeback -- ignited by Daniel Alfredsson's game-tying goal in the dying seconds of regulation, and capped off by Colin Greening in the second overtime -- is that the team remained within striking distance for the entire game, yielding just one goal to the likes of fourth-liner Tyler Kennedy.

The Daniel Alfredsson play is garnering a ton of attention: what the Senators did right, and perhaps more accurately, what the Penguins did wrong. It was a fairly colossal defensive breakdown on the Pittsburgh end that took Ottawa off of series life support. The Greening goal has invariably given them new life.

What strikes me as just as important, though, is how well Ottawa played last night at even-strength. Giving up one goal to Pittsburgh is always going to be a big team success considering just how much talent Dan Bylsma's team possesses, but the fact that Ottawa really was the better team at five-on-five is probably the most encouraging of all.

By keeping Pittsburgh off of the scoreboard and avoiding those dreaded stretches of sustained Penguins offensive zone time (quite noticeable during periods of G1/G2), Ottawa was able to mount the comeback.

To me, it started with the play of the Kyle Turris line. Turris, in particular, might have had one of his best games as an Ottawa Senators player.

No points, of course. But, Turris was exhaustively matched-up against the Sidney Crosby line, and context matters. Normally, and this holds true for just about any player or any line in the National Hockey League, Crosby's winning that battle. And, in the coming games of the series, it's likely that Crosby's going to get his more than the opposition he faces. Probably decisively so.

Last night, Ottawa's trio of Jakob Silfverberg, Kyle Turris, and Daniel Alfredsson did what's normally mission impossible: force Sidney Crosby to play off the puck as a defender in the defensive third.

At even-strength, the shot attempt differentials -- a fantastic measure of zone-time -- of the two trios laid in Ottawa's favor. I've included the Methot-Karlsson pairing (the pairing Crosby's line primarily faced), as well as Craig Anderson to portray how the team performed over regulation and the two OT frames:



Alfredsson appears like a weird case, but he seemed to be floating around just about every line combination when Ottawa was in full-scramble mode during PD3, which may explain his outlier number.

Predictably, scoring chances correlated strongly. Kyle Turris was on-ice for ten chances for, five against, per T6S.

Here's the Crosby line, with Vokoun to show team numbers in the same:



This, just one game after Sidney Crosby tallied a hat-trick in twenty-two minutes of game-time, burning Ottawa on just about every shift.

Pittsburgh's going to spend a lot of time (probably an unnecessary amount of time) on one singular defensive breakdown. It was bad. But, I'd submit that their inability to breakthrough (a) Ottawa's possession time; and (b) Craig Anderson was far more damning in the loss.

Have to wonder if Dan Bylsma will order another lineup shuffle. I think there's enough evidence here to support a tweak or two.

If I'm Paul MacLean, I'm encouraged by the underlying numbers. I'm encouraged by Craig Anderson. I'm encouraged by JG Pageau (again) and Erik Condra (again) and Colin Greening (again), who have not surprisingly formed an unbelievable, speed/possession based bottom-six line.

Side-note: predictably funny how the two best Corsi forwards on the team this year (three, if you count JG Pageau's nine-game sample) are the highest point scorers on the team. That'd be Player #11, Player #22, and Player #44.

You know the saying: Corsi begets scoring chances, scoring chances beget goals.

On the other side, I'm not so encouraged by Ottawa's continued parade to the penalty box. The Senators certainly appeared more active/aggressive in the pressure they tried to apply down a man, but 6-for-6 isn't going to happen very often against this Pittsburgh team. The only way to have a successful kill team against the Penguins long-term is to not see them on the ice very often. And I think Paul MacLean knows that.

Ottawa's still got a world of work cut out for them -- one game doesn't change the reality that they're still down in the series, and can't risk going down 3-1 heading back to Pittsburgh for game five at CONSOL. But, last night was a start.

A very, very good start.

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