The Caps find themselves in an 0-2 series hole after falling to the Penguins 6-2 on Saturday night. This game sucked and it’s understandable if you’ve got “here we go again” running through your head.
The Caps absolutely dominated the first period. This was one of the more dominant twenty minutes of hockey the Caps have played this season. But the frame ended with nothing to show for it and, oooh boy, does that sting now. Missed assignments, odd-man rushes, and Braden Holtby looking human came to define a game that could have looked very different if a puck or two had been deposited behind Marc-Andre Fleury in the first period.
But it didn’t happen. And here we are.
- The Caps had 88 shot attempts to 44 for the Pens. As you can see in the viz from Hockeystats.ca, much of this difference was created in the first period when the Caps out-attempted the Pens 35-8
- This wasn’t a case of the Caps just taking perimeter shots into shin pads (although there were some of those). They generated a lot of shots from dangerous areas.
- But in the end, Micah sums it up best:
Caps paying very dearly for their failure to score several times in the first. pic.twitter.com/Bmwxqjexgv
— Micah Blake McCurdy (@IneffectiveMath) April 30, 2017
- Brooks Orpik, yes number 44 for Washington, led the Caps in shot attempts at 5-on-5 with seven and tied for the team lead in shots on goal with 4.
Unsung Hero of the Game
Moral victories don’t matter much when you’re down 0-2 in a playoff series, but the Caps’ third line continues to play really well. Just like the rest of the team, however, too often they’ve been unable to turn dominant shifts into goals. Through two games, Andre Burakovsky leads all skaters with a plus-33 on-ice shot attempt differential. Linemates Lars Eller (plus-31) and Tom Wilson (plus-30) aren’t far behind.
The Pens depth, particularly their third line, was credited with being the difference in the series between these two teams last season. The Caps revamped their third line for this season in response to that and the line has been able to overwhelm the Pens for extended periods this series.
Can they turn this dominance into goals before it’s too late?
What’s next?
Barry Trotz has some decisions he’ll be mulling over before Game Three on Monday night in Pittsburgh. Some thoughts on a few of these:
- Holtby should be back in net. Yes, he hasn’t looked like himself in the 2017 playoffs, but Philipp Grubauer’s play in the third period helps show that pinning all of this on Holtby is an oversimplification of the problem. The reigning Vezina winner will need to be better in Game Three, and he should get that chance.
- Brett Connolly should get a sweater. The guy scored 15 goals during the regular season on what was arguably the best third line in hockey. Demoting him and now scratching him feels like a bit of a panic move.
- Will Karl Alzner be healthy enough to draw in? If so, where? Perhaps Trotz will scratch Paul Carey and go with seven D. It’s hard to imagine Trotz scratching a veteran at such a critical time in the season, but if he’s is going to keep with six D and bring Alzner back in, Brooks Orpik should be the guy watch from the press box. Orpik leads all defenders with a plus-30 on ice shot attempt differential in the series, and Kevin Shattenkirk has been off his game since early in the Leafs series, but Orpik’s lack of foot speed has been evident too often when the Pens have been in transition.
The loss in Game Two was as discouraging as they come. The Caps dominated early, were unable to capitalize, and then were outdone by an opportunistic team. Sound familiar?
I don’t mention the fact that the Caps did things well in Game Two as some sort of moral victory. The team is down 0-2 and there’s point in sugarcoating what’s happened. However, the extended stretches of dominant play from the Caps should serve as a reminder that if the strong play can be turned into goals, this series is a long way from over.
Full Coverage of Caps vs Penguins
Headline image: Rob Carr
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