Game 6 Fallout
Key Area Capitals have taken over series
The Pittsburgh Penguins have lost control of the series in a matter of four periods.
“Thought we controlled a lot of the zone time. Thought we won a lot of the battles,” Caps coach Barry Trotz said of his club after Monday night’s 5-2 win in Game 6.
The Penguins have been outscored 8-2 over the last four periods and most glaring is the lack of shots getting on net for the Penguins.
Over the last six periods the Penguins shot totals have been 7, 3, 12, 3, 6, and 9.
The Capitals have figured something out.
“We moved our feet. We stayed in the battle,” Trotz said. “I thought our tracking game was really good. I thought our structure was really good. I thought our communication in terms of responsibilities and our coverages were pretty solid. When you do that, you can contain teams a little bit.”
Mike Sullivan talked afterwards that the Penguins are not dictating pace.
The road block the Penguins have ran into is the neutral zone. Washington has seen something on tape as the series has progressed that has them stifling the Penguins in the middle of the ice.
Washington is playing a variation of a 1-2-2 and 1-3-1 in the neutral zone. With a Penguins D that is slow in the decision making process to move the puck up, the Capitals sitting back and then closing fast, forcing a Penguins D unable to find an open lane.
If Pittsburgh tried to go to the wall with the puck, this happened.
If the Penguins looked for a stretch pass, more often than not a broken play happened or an off-sides.
The Penguins are an offense that relies so much on clean zone entries and creating grade-A chances off of them. The Capitals have made the Penguins basically a chip and chase team.
This is the pivotal area the Penguins have to try to fix for Game 7 in beating the first wave of the Capitals neutral zone trap. Shorter support from the forwards has to be one adjustment the Penguins make.
Last night I felt like I was watching a Dan Bylsma team with the constant long stretch passes and the forwards hanging out near the blueline.
As the Capitals have taken over the neutral zone, where the Capitals are also excelling is with their aggressiveness in the offensive and defensive zones.
They’re forcing the Penguins to make panic plays all over the ice, especially the defensemen. The Penguins at times live and die with their d-men pinching and it’s haunted them these last couple games.
Self Inflicted Wounds Can Be Fixed
— The good thing for the Penguins going into Game 7 is that some of their issues in Game 6 were nothing more than self inflicted wounds.
As lifeless and bad the Penguins were in this one, it was still a 1-0 game late in the second period.
The Burakovsky goal was something from a blooper video where you have Conor Sheary doing who knows what with the puck on the left side, then Ron Hainsey with a ton of time and space to go off the boards and out of the zone, deciding to turn and take a hit and then Marc Andre Fleury being completely off his angle and letting in a soft goal.
What’s also getting overlooked because of the Penguins low shot totals in Game 6, Pittsburgh held Washington 26 shots in the game and held them to 16 shots on goal through two periods.
Problem was the Capitals scored three times on their first 17 shots.
Tidbits
— Brooks Orpik is a whipping boy among the media and pundits but one scout tells me the change from assistant coach Todd Reirden in playing Orpik and John Carlson together more often has had a major impact on John Carlson in letting him be more aggressive offensively.
— Up 3-2 in the series heading into Monday night’s tilt, did Mike Sullivan make panic moves with the line shuffling?
That’s up for debate.
We saw some panic moves from Sullivan last year in the conference finals when in a 2-2 series, he turned to Marc Andre Fleury in Game 5 and put Beau Bennett on the top line that didn’t work.
Monday night the HBK line didn’t even make it to the third period, not a surprise with how they’ve looked together this season, and taking Jake Guentzel (they were reunited in the third period) off of Crosby’s line was the main head scratcher.
Chad Ruhwedel was not a problem with his play but this team could use Mark Streit and that goes back to even round 1. Jacques Martin is said to not be much of a fan but the Penguins need more skill from their backend to drive the transition game and Streit would give Pittsburgh another element on a power play that couldn’t control the puck last night in gaining the zone.
A forward group that looks to be lacking an infusion of speed all of a sudden, Scott Wilson playing should not be the only consideration.
To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
For a laugh, this is sam and yoda working together on a post season article if they were Ranger fans
http://elitesportsny.com/2017/05/10/new-york-rangers-open-letter-blueshirts-organization/
We’re gonna need a lot of positivity to get through tonight. Let’s stick together. Everyone bring it in for a hug.
Imma go get drunk. That always seems to help.
I’m fired up for tonight. looking for another epic letdown for the capitals and their fans. I’m not a bigger hugger, would a fist bump suffice?
I am sure a good fistting would be sufficient for him lol
I have a pot laced cookie waiting to clam my nerves.
https://media4.giphy.com/media/wsSssszJkPBYs/giphy.gif
Eat a dlck
Virginal sam doesnt’ even know what that is.
You might excite npl with that
Could be Fleury’s last game in a Pens uni. Great story line. Will midget come up big?
Midget!
He needs to get back to Conn Smythe mode, and Crosby needs to show up big time.
To note before we all start pointing fingers at 3 or 4 players tonight if they lose… the year after winning a cup you knew it wasnt gonna be easy. That said had the team not lost Letang mid-year things would probably look much different. The back end is a bit of a mess but the team is one win away from facing Ottawa despite missing a massive piece. Since the Crosby hit he hasnt been himself either, this is another important thing to consider before we start tossing everyone under a bus for “failure”. In truth I am mostly… Read more »
I blame Sestito.
I blame the pretense world cup.
Consuela
Staus on Daley?
Didn’t practice.
https://media.giphy.com/media/uq6ILNBI6g3As/giphy.gif
Kuhn-anus needs to come out. Dude hasnt won a puck battle in a month
So bad at this
You mean evaluating players? You’re right. I was wrong on can’t-miss Ron Hainsey.
Everyone knows you were wrong. That’s why, for ten games, you didn’t say shitt, even though you had a mouth full of it.
Ron Hainsey has been fine, the play was inexcusable and he is probably a little out of place on the top pairing but I hardly blame him overall for the Pens collapsing the way they have.
I won’t even limit it to that play (the one we’re all thinking of). He was shit. The entire team was shit, and he STILL stood out. It was an awful game for him. But up to that game, he’s barely been noticeable, which is a testament to just how solid he had been to that point.
That’s absolutely fair, game 6 was such a shitty game I give no one a pass either and due to varying level of shitty I couldnt single out too many lol. Let’s hope it’s out of their system
I mean they couldn’t complete an 8 foot pass. It was retardation at the most rudimentary of levels.
There was a point where they completed 2 consecutive passes.. I went to go make a crack about it on a Pens page I follow on facebook. To my amusement my thread had lit up with that exact idea before I could type it myself lol
I though JA should have been in line up a couple games back- a spark that this line-up could use
Btw hainsey coughed that puck up because he was too worried he was going to get crushed.
Yes, the play where he hesitated to keep it longer and move it behind the net as opposed to move it down the ice quickly on his back hand was a product of him taking a hit. Here is why this is proof you don’t understand what you are watching 1. Hainsey gets to the loose puck on his back hand, there was an opportunity to move it quickly down the ice but he doesnt. 2. Instead he fully turns his body to the forcheck and tries to move the puck behind the net 3. This gives the forechecker the… Read more »
Hainsey was in panic mode. You over analyze
You dont analyze, you go into everything with a predetermined pov and then create a story to fit your narrative.
And now I realize exactly why you are claiming what you are.. you are basing it on the gif above and not what actually happened on the play LMAO! Such a fraud
This is correct. If he just moves the puck out on the backhand, he never takes a check.
Hainsey blows
He would be fine in a reduced role. Guy is well past his prime and basically in the top pair, Last night was fucken inexcusable though
This is one of the dumbest things you’ve ever said. That’s impressive. You’re saying to avoid a hit, he turned to the boards and stood there until someone hit him. Jesus are you a moron. If he were scared, he would have just gotten rid of it, which he should have done anyway. It was a stupid play. Nothing more.
I think pens need to employ same trap on caps and let them come to them and try attack on counter instead of trying to break caps trap and have them
Get turnovers and come with speed against our flat footed defenseman
any chance matt murray comes back? i hate to say it, but you know the pens are going to need 5 to win tomorrow night. the saint is going to be a nervous wreck.
Would depend if Murrays sprained vagina is healed.
If Murray had played last night, Pens would have lost 8-2.
By the way – this is how you can tell the either A) yoda didn’t watch the game last night, or B) he has no idea what he’s looking at (I lean toward B)
Im talking about game 7
Then you look even dumber. Because putting a cold goalie into a Game 7 against anyone, let alone the best team in the league, is sam-level stupid. Congratulations. You finally got there.