Pittsburgh will face off against one of the best teams in the Metropolitan Division this evening when they take on the Washington Capitals.
The Capitals have come out strong in 2015-16 and have only lost one game to this point. The only game they lost was the game that Alex Ovechkin was benched in due to an alarm clock snafu.
The Capitals scorching offense has the top three even-strength point producers in the league right now.
5v5 Points/60 Alexander Ovechkin 5.22 Evgeny Kuznetsov 4.57 Nicklas Backstrom 4.48
Alex Ovechkin producing at a league best even strength rate is an incredibly scary thought especially if you are Marc-Andre Fleury. Historically speaking a lot of Ovechkin’s damage has come on the power play.
That is incredibly good. For comparison sake Evgeni Malkin is the top ranked Penguin in the league is at 2.19 which is ranked 94th overall.
Here is a breakdown of how the two teams have done so far this year
Washington is the third best possession team and the top shooting team in the NHL.
Pittsburgh has seen better play in net with Marc-Andre Fleury. Their .937 even-strength save percentage is 11th best in the league compared to Washington’s below average .913 at 23rd overall.
For Pittsburgh to win they are going to have to create more offense than they have. Playing a defensive shell against Washington hoping for a low event low scoring game seems like an approach that would have a minimal success level.
Justin Williams has been battling an illness but is expected to play this evening.
No changes in #Caps lineup tonight. Same forward lines and D pairs as Friday in Edmonton as they aim for 6th straight win tonight vs. PIT.
— Mike Vogel (@VogsCaps) October 28, 2015
Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Oshie Johansson-Backstrom-Williams Chimera-Beagle-Wilson Laich-Stephenson-Burakovsky
Orpik-Carlson Alzner-Niskanen Orlov-Chorney
As far as the Penguins are concerned they did not partake in any line rushes today so we will have to wait and see how the lines shake up. They will definitely be different than they have been the last few days because Beau Bennett will be making his return. If he plays at the level he was playing at before his latest injury that will certainly help the team. Mike Johnston said that Bennett will be moving up and down the lineup this evening. He said something similar when Pascal Dupuis came back from his injury. Dupuis found himself on the top line by the end of the night due to the lackluster play from the other wingers.
Another development from practice the last few days is that Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby are rotating on the power play between the right half wall and down low by the goal line. I like that. Even though I think Sidney Crosby is best for the goal line spot I can’t be upset about player movement on the power play. Many times the Penguins power play runs into trouble because of the stagnant movement that doesn’t force the PK unit to move and shift away from what they want to do.
Two victories in a row over quality teams for Pittsburgh? We’ll see.
Thanks for reading!