Tonight the battle between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals will resume. The team that won the last contest will be looking to play better while the team that lost will be trying to do more of the same. On the surface that doesn't appear to make sense, but the Capitals did everything but win the game in the series opener.
Tonight will likely mark the return of Carl Hagelin to the Penguins lineup after a very long absence due to injury. He is a "game-time" decision and when players are labeled as such you can usually translate that coach speak into an assurance that the player will be back into the lineup. This is a big deal for Pittsburgh because Hagelin's speed will hopefully be able to disrupt the Capitals attack. If Pittsburgh wants to play a heavier forecheck with two players as opposed to a 1-2-2 a guy like Hagelin can get in on it faster than most and make it effective. It's a risky proposition to go aggressive on the forecheck against Washington because if they slip the puck past the first two players they are looking at an easy zone entry. It is a double edged sword. Speed can help make sure that the team is on the correct edge.
Here is how I would create the forward lines this evening for Pittsburgh
Guentzel-Crosby-Hornqvist
Hagelin-Malkin-Kessel
Sheary-Bonino-Rust
Kunitz-Cullen-Wilson
The top six is solid. Can't really complain too much there.
Conor Sheary is going to have to play better. His performance in Game 1 was one of the worst that he has had in the NHL.
Conor Sheary had the lowest corsi% at 5v5 at 4.3%. Sheary posted the highest turnover rate at .67 turnovers per possession. Overall Sheary had 9 possessions at 5v5, 4 resulted in a turnover in the offensive zone (4/9 = .44), and 2 resulted in a turnover in the neutral zone (2/9 = .22).
I'm not putting him the press box and the reason is simple. Conor Sheary's mediocre games have a higher ceiling than the best games that Tom Kuhnhackl and Carter Rowney are going to give you. I am comfortable taking the chance that Sheary will not play as poorly as he did in Game 1.
Defensively the pairings will stay the same. As long as Ron Hainsey is paired with Brian Dumoulin that means he will be getting more minutes than he should.
The Capitals are making a roster change for Game 2
Can't say this one makes a lot of sense on the surface. In his limited minutes he has the Capitals fourth best relative possession numbers among Capitals forwards. His CF% is 57.8%. He leads the Capitals in scoring chances for per 60 at 11.26. The playoff numbers deserve a "small sample size" warning, but he was still fourth overall in possession during the regular season among Capital forwards and had a 2.01 points per 60. Strange move.
Marc-Andre Fleury will continue to try and ride his stretch of great play. To this point it has been his best work in the playoffs since 2007-08 when he posted a .933 save percentage in 20 games. Through six games Fleury is at .934. If the shot volume is the same from Game 1 then the Penguins will be screwed if Fleury does not continue to play at this level.
The Washington Capitals did not have a single power play in Game 1 despite launching 72 shots attempts at even-strength. I find that hard to believe. Wait, I don't. This league is miserable with how they interpret the rule book.
The league's broadcast partner who champions this terrible interpretation of the rule book is also against fun. This isn't new news, it's just the latest
I hate when people have fun doing something in a business that is under the umbrella of entertainment, don't you?
Thanks for reading!
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