Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Washington Capitals Round 2 Preview

The Pittsburgh Penguins are set to meet the Washington Capitals in the second round of the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals have a storied, intense rivalry. They have met in the playoffs 55 times, with Pittsburgh winning 34 of those series as opposed to Washington’s 21.

This will be an interesting series to watch and will most likely be the highlight of the second round. Let’s see how these two teams match up against each other.

Goaltending

Pittsburgh was initially supposed to roll with Matt Murray in net, but due to an unfortunate sudden injury prior to the first round, Marc-Andre Fleury had to come in cold as the starting goaltender.

Fleury has shown no signs of slowing down though. In the first round, he made some impressive stops and posted a 2.52 goals against average and a .933 save percentage. This is great considering his lack of playing time during the regular season.

Braden Holtby on the other hand has had an impressive season. Coming off a hot season in which he took home the Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goaltender, Holtby posted a 2.07 goals against average and a .925 save percentage with a 34-18-10 record. His performance earned him another Vezina nomination.

In the first round, the Capitals faced the young Toronto Maple Leafs who took them to six games. A certain narrative that formed during this series was Holtby’s inability to hold a lead. Nevertheless, Holtby posted a 2.36 goals against average and a .925 save percentage.

Defence

Injuries plagued the Pittsburgh Penguins throughout the season, and the biggest injury was to the Penguins #1 defenceman, Kris Letang.

Nevertheless, Pittsburgh’s defensive core has been able to hold it together throughout this season. Justin Schultz stepped up and had his best season yet, and other acquisitions like Ron Hainsey have helped solidify the blue line more for the Penguins.

Washington on the other hand has a very structured defensive core. With their only injury being to Karl Alzner, most of their top six is in tact. Expect key games from Matt Niskanen, John Carlson and recent pickup Kevin Shattenkirk. Also watch out for past Penguin Brooks Orpik.

Offence

This is where things get interesting. Both Washington and Pittsburgh have dominant offensive cores, and a look at the numbers from this season proves this,

Pittsburgh was first in the entire league in goals scored this season with 278. Washington was right behind them in third with 261 team goals scored. The two teams were also third (Washington) and fourth (Pittsburgh) in team power play percentage, with both teams having a percentage of 23.1%.

Although Pittsburgh is still fighting injuries, their offensive core is led by Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel and Patric Hornqvist. They’ve also seen many depth players come up big this year, like Jake Guentzel, Conor Sheary and Bryan Rust.

The Capitals boast a top line of Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and T.J. Oshie. Other key players include Evgeny Kuznetsov, Andre Burakovsky and the ever-so clutch Justin Williams.

The offence will definitely be something to watch for in this series.