Courtesy: NHLsnipers.com
WASHINGTON — In what will be the 201st meeting between these two heated rivals, the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins will battle for first place in the Metropolitan Division Wednesday night.
This is a rivalry that many would expect the Penguins to dominate, but the all-time record only favors Pittsburgh by two wins over Washington 88-90-16-6. At home, the Capitals are 51-37-9-4 versus the Penguins and look to take advantage of the friendly confines of Verizon Center once again.
The picture to your right says it all. While this rivalry has lost some mystique it had when both Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin entered the NHL, a game like tonight is just what the doctor ordered to re-ignite the flame.
Washington comes in with the special teams advantage as they are second on both the power play and the penalty kill — 24.4% on the power play and 86.9% on the penalty kill. Pittsburgh enters the contest with a solid core of special teams as well, not quite to the level of the Capitals, as the Penguins are 12th in the NHL on the power play (20.0%) and eighth in the league with a man down (84.2%).
Both Pittsburgh and Washington are fairly even offensively — Capitals average 3.0 goals-per-game (7th in the NHL); Penguins average 2.8 goals-per-game (11th in the NHL) — so this game could come down to which team plays better defensively and which goaltender stands taller in this matchup.
Defensively, Washington is slightly below average in terms of the amount of goals they allow each contest — the Capitals are 19th in the NHL with 2.8 goals-against-per-game. Pittsburgh is stellar on defense as they are eighth in the league in goals-allowed-per-game (2.3). The problem for the Capitals isn’t necessarily just the amount of goals they allow, it’s the amount of opportunities they let the opposition throw at the direction of their goaltender. This will be an even tougher task as defenseman Mike Green will miss his third-straight game due to a lower-body contusion.
Washington allowed the St. Louis Blues to take 47 shots toward the direction of Braden Holtby Sunday night. He stood tall and stopped 46 of them, but that is far too many shots to be thrown at any goaltender. As good as defenseman John Carlson and Karl Alzner have been lately for the Capitals in Mike Green’s absence, they have to orchestrate some kind of scheme to prevent as many scoring chances and pucks hitting the net sooner rather than later.
And against Pittsburgh, those shots will go in with the firepower they have all over the ice.
For the Capitals to win tonight, they must take advantage of power play opportunities and win as many 50-50 pucks as possible. Puck possession will be key as sometimes the best defense against an offense like Pittsburgh’s is to hold the puck in center ice and get more than one shot each offensive trip into the opposing zone. The less time Crosby and Malkin have the puck, the more likely Washington will come out on top.
Notes: Braden Holtby will start in net for the Capitals; Marc Andre-Fleury will start between the pipes for the Penguins. The lines and defensive pairings for Washington remains the same. Scratches: Eric Fehr, Dmitry Orlov, Jay Beagle, Mike Green.
