Round two of the Pittsburgh Penguins 2017 Stanley Cup run begins tonight against the Washington Capitals.
After defeating the Columbus Blue Jackets in five games in round one, the Pittsburgh Penguins waited anxiously to see who they would be facing in the next round–Toronto or Washington?
After a long, intense and overtime-filled series, the Washington Capitals defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in six games to move on to the second round.
The Penguins first round saw an injury to starting goaltender Matt Murray before game one. As a result, Marc-Andre Fleury came in cold but still held the fort down. The Penguins were able to find many offensive opportunities and won the series four games to one.
Although the absence of Kris Letang has loomed over the Penguins all season long, we have seen the emergence of many new players. Jake Guentzel currently leads the entire league this post-season in goals with five in the first round. This includes a hat trick in game three of the first round.
Evgeni Malkin also leads the entire league in points currently with 11 points in five games. Phil Kessel sits in third with eight points. The Penguins will be looking towards these players to come up big once again in what will surely be an intense round against Washington.
Lines
It looks like the Penguins will be going with what worked in the first round with some minor changes. Looking at the lines from practice yesterday, we can assume the team tonight will be rolling with something similar to these lines:
#Pens lines the same as last practice:
— Pens Inside Scoop (@PensInsideScoop) April 26, 2017
Guentzel-Crosby-Hornqvist
Rust-Malkin-Kessel
Wilson-Bonino-Sheary
Kunitz-Cullen-Kuhnhackl/Rowney
-MC
#Pens D-pairs:
— Pens Inside Scoop (@PensInsideScoop) April 26, 2017
Cole-Schultz
Dumoulin-Hainsey
Maatta-Daley
Streit-Ruhwedel
-MC
The three changes that stand out are the shifts between Conor Sheary, Patric Hornqvist, and Bryan Rust. Sheary found a great amount of success playing on Sidney Crosby’s wing in the first round, so it will be interesting to see what these changes may bring.
Listings
Here are the listings for tonight’s game:
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- Welcome To The Burgh: Lars Eller
- Penguins Waddle Toward The Season
- Farewell Carl Hagelin
- Penguins Line-up Breakdown vs Stanley Cup Champs Vegas
- Ryan Graves Solid Signing For The Pittsburgh Penguins
Date: Thursday April 27, 2017
Start Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
Venue: Verizon Center
Location: Washington, D.C.
Series Lead: Series tied 0-0
Announcers: Doc Emrick, Eddie Olczyk, Pierre McGuire
TV Channel: NHL Network, NBC, ROOT, TVAS2, Sportsnet (Canada)
Radio Listings: 105.9 The X
Live Stream: NBC Sports Extra App
Next: Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Washington Capitals Round 2 Preview
How will you be watching the game?