The Eastern Conference Finals will resume tonight and it will include some lineup changes for the Penguins and Lightning.
Justin Schultz will be coming into the lineup to replace the struggling Olli Maatta. There is no guarantee that Schultz will play well but his skating stride isn't compromised because of a lower body injury either. Right now Maatta just can't skate at the level that has made him a successful NHL player and it has negatively impacted his play.
Other changes for the Penguins include their line combinations. Yesterday I suggested the following lines:
Malkin-Crosby-Hornqvist
Hagelin-Bonino-Kessel
Kunitz-Cullen-Rust
Kuhnhackl-Fehr-Sheary
The lines will look different but it won't have a Crosby/Malkin combo. Here is what the lines will look like
Hagelin-Bonino-Kessel
Kunitz-Malkin-Hornqvist
Sheary-Crosby-Rust
Kuhnhackl-Cullen-Fehr
I ranked those in order of the quality of wingers. They are really banking on Sidney Crosby making the most of Bryan Rust and Conor Sheary's speed. I do think that will benefit in puck retrieval but the team needs tangible offense from Sid. Bryan Rust had an even-strength points per 60 of 1.01 this year. That is very low. They are asking a lot out of the captain.
Evgeni Malkin gets an upgrade at right wing. It will be interesting to see if he can crack through his pointless drought with Hornqvist on his side. Malkin will still be relied on heavily for zone entries with that combo.
Polite reminder that it isn't easy to produce in the playoffs even if you are one of the best at it
Couldn't help but notice that Jonathan Toews led all players on the list with the most 5+ game goalless droughts as well as the most 8+ game goalless droughts. He is rarely taken to task for that because his teammates buy him time to right the ship every year. So far this year the Penguins have given Crosby and Malkin support for them to get going again after a quiet Washington series.
The biggest news for Tampa Bay isn't the fact that goaltender Ben Bishop can't go, although that is a big deal, too. It is the news that Anton Stralman is very likely to make his playoff debut tonight. If Victor Hedman wasn't enough to deal with Stralman adds to the Penguins problems
He is a great player and even if he isn't 100% he is still better than their alternatives.
Andrei Vasilevskiy looks to be the Game 2 starter. He is good in his own right but he isn't Bishop, at least not yet
Interesting to note that Vasilevskiy has a very good high danger save percentage which is a better indicator of a how a goalie is playing than low danger save percentage. It is weird to see a goalie with such a good high danger save percentage with such a crumby low danger one. All that said it has no bearing on the Penguins approach and that is to bombard whatever goalie is in net with shot volume.
Steven Stamkos will not play tonight even though he was a full participant in today's practice. Stamkos has been preparing diligently throughout this whole process. Reports say that he has reached out to multiple players who have gone through blood clot issues including former Penguins Pascal Dupuis and Tomas Vokoun. He has done his homework to the point where he knows each players specific issues and the types of medication they were using and what that means for recovery times. The fact remains that blood clot issues are open ended and it is tough to nail down an exact return date. It could be Game 3 for Stamkos are it could be opening night of 2016-17 whichever team that may be for.
Losing Game 2 wouldn't be a death sentence for the Pittsburgh Penguins but I would highly advise against it. Winning four out of five games against Tampa Bay would not be an easy task.
Thanks for reading!
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