Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins Renew Playoff Rival with Second Round Matchup

The Washington Capitals and the Pittsburgh Penguins will renew their playoff rivalry beginning Thursday at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC. 

The last time Penguins captain Sidney Crosby and Capital captain Alexander Ovechkin met in the postseason was back in 2009, during the second then as well. That epic seven game matchup was the only other time the two stars met during the postseason. Crosby got the better of that meeting, enroute to capturing the Stanley Cup seven years ago. 

Both the star players each had a hat trick during game two of that series. Ovechkin scored eight goals and 14 points while Crosby had eight and 13 points in the last playoff meeting.  

This season the Penguins shut down the New York Rangers knocking them out of the playoffs in five games, while the Capitals looked like they would handily sweep the Philadelphia Flyers away, but took their foot off the gas and dispatched them in six games. 

The Capitals came into the 2016 postseason with the best record in the National Hockey League as the Penguins were one of the hottest teams since mid-December. Since their last meeting, the Penguins have only made past the second round once, while the Capitals have struggled to get by the second round. 

During the series against the Flyers, the Capitals best players were able to play like their best players. Ovechkin netted two power play goals and was able to dominate play every time he stepped on the ice. Nicklas Backstrom, who like Ovechkin, played against the Flyers top line, put up seven points. 

With the exception of Marcus Johansson and Andre Burakovsky, who flipped flopped between the second and third lines, the top six for the Caps was kept pretty much intact. The move to switch Johansson and Burakovsky, helped jump start the second line.

While the bottom six did not contribute much on the scoresheet, they did help in the shutting down the Flyers pressure within the offensive zone as well as helping the team be more physical. Third line center Mike Richards may not have had a point for the Capitals, but he did elevate his physical play. 

The Penguins had five forwards, that averaged at least a point per game against the Rangers. Crosby led the way with eight points as he continued his hot play. He entered the postseason with 66 points in the 54 games since the Penguins replaced former head coach, Mike Johnston behind the bench with Mike Sullivan, on December 13. 

Crosby’s linemates, Patric Hornqvist and Conor Sheary, combined for five goals and eight points. Sheary joined the line following game three and Hornqvist had five of the points, which includes a hat trick in game one against the Rangers. 

Evgeni Malkin, who is recovering from an upper body injury had seven points in the Penguins first round series, despite missing game one. The third line of Nick Bonino, Phil Kessel and Carl Hagelin combined for 12 points during the first round, with Kessel putting up half of them. 

The fourth line of Matt Cullen, Tom Kuhnhackl and Bryan Rust contributed nine points in the five games with the Rangers. 

John Carlson, led the way on defense for the Capitals with six points, five coming on the power play and was second amongst Capitals defenseman in ice time behind Matt Niskanen. The Penguins defense is healthy, deep and fast this season, after having a defense that was banged up last year.

Kris Letang and Olli Maatta led the way on the blueline for the Pens. Letang’s five points led the way for their defenseman against the Rangers and his 27:17 of ice time was tops for their defensive corps. Trevor Daley and Maatta were second third. 

Between the pipes, the Capitals Bradon Holtby leads all goaltenders in the playoffs, with a goals against average of 0.84 and a .968 save percentage. His .940 career save percentage is first in the NHL amongst goalies with at least 25 games played.

With Marc-Andre Fleury not quite ready enough to return to the lineup due to concussion symptoms, the Penguins situation in net is a little complicated. Rookie goalie Matt Murray played well between the pipes against the Rangers after being inserted before game three, but Jeff Zatkoff also proved he has the ability to be a good playoff goalie. 

Zatkoff turned away 35 Rangers’ shots in the Penguins game one victory at Consol Energy Center, while in the final three games of the first round, Murray allowed four goals on 89 shots for a 1.33 GAA and a .955 save percentage. In game four at Madison Square Garden, Murray put up a 31 save shutout, and turned away 38 Rangers’ shots in the 6-3 game five clincher back in Pittsburgh.  

While it appears that Ovi and Capitals have all of the dominoes in place this season, once again it is Sidney and the Penguins that will be standing in their way to get to the Eastern Conference Finals.