Today is the day. After having a 3-1 series lead, the Pittsburgh Penguins allowed the Washington Capitals to tie the series up and take the Pens to a game seven tonight.
The pressure is on for the Pittsburgh Penguins. After having two opportunities to close out the series with no success, they head to Washington with one last opportunity to win while also facing elimination. It’s do or die tonight.
Pittsburgh Penguins
The Penguins have not been playing very well in their last two games. Sidney Crosby and Conor Sheary may have been out with a concussion in game four, but their returns in game five didn’t have much of an impact. Looking at game six, the Penguins offence almost didn’t show up at all. Other than their two goals at the very end of the game, the Penguins let the Capitals walk all over them.
If the Penguins want to find any success on Wednesday and move on to the Eastern Conference Finals once again, they should be looking to play more offensively. Marc-Andre Fleury has been playing great, and their defence isn’t too bad either.
Pittsburgh has been an offensive powerhouse throughout the season and during the beginning of these playoffs. Although they may have slowed down recently, they have to try and pick up their offence like they did early on in these playoffs. If they can do that, I have no doubt in my mind that they can take on the Caps.
Lines
Here are the lines the Penguins will be looking to go with heading into game seven, according to Wes Crosby on Twitter.
#Pens lines:
— Wes Crosby (@OtherNHLCrosby) May 9, 2017
Guentzel--Crosby--Rust
Kunitz--Malkin--Kessel
Sheary--Bonino--Hornqvist
Hagelin--Cullen--Rowney
There aren’t too many changes. But it seems as though the HBK line reunion which we saw in game six was short-lived.
Also interesting to note is that Matt Murray returns today to backup Marc-Andre Fleury. This is great news as the Penguins will now have both their top goalies ready for use in these intense playoffs.
Murray good enough to back up. He's been skating and "ready to take the next step," per Coach Sullivan -SK
— Pens Inside Scoop (@PensInsideScoop) May 10, 2017
Listings
Here are the listings for tonight’s game, according to NHL.com.
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- Farewell Carl Hagelin
- Penguins Line-up Breakdown vs Stanley Cup Champs Vegas
- Ryan Graves Solid Signing For The Pittsburgh Penguins
Date: Wednesday May 10, 2017
Start Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
Venue: Verizon Center
Location: Washington, D.C.
Series Lead: Series tied 3-3
Announcers: Doc Emrick, Eddie Olczyk, Pierre McGuire
TV Channel: NHL Network, NBC, ROOT, TVAS2, CBC (Canada)
Radio Listings: 105.9 The X
Live Stream: NBC Sports Extra App
Next: Penguins Have to Prevent Blowing It All
How will you be watching the game?