Penguins/NHL
Penguins – Islanders Game 1 Buzz
Deja vu for Jack Johnson
The politics of having management influence lineup decisions like what played out to an extent this season for the Penguins is over as it’s now the postseason.
Game 1 of Penguins – Islanders will give a look of how Mike Sullivan and Co actually view their best group of six defensemen.
And Jack Johnson isn’t one of them, just as he wasn’t last spring in Columbus when the 2018 postseason got underway.
How did the Penguins get to this decision?
Sullivan has leaned heavily on top assistant Jacques Martin on which direction to go and as mentioned here yesterday, Martin has strongly pushed in meetings to keep the third pairing of Marcus Pettersson – Erik Gudbranson together, leaving Jack Johnson as the odd-man out.
A big point of emphasis among the staff in determining which d-man would sit was the Islanders forecheck.
Pittsburgh’s D-Pairs tonight will set up as:
DuMoulin – Letang
Maatta – Schultz
Pettersson – Gudbranson
The decision to scratch Johnson, which was believed to have been made on Monday afternoon (pending DuMoulin would be able to play) wasn’t made lightly as there was some support for him to stay in the lineup from others. The surprising part is who the discussions centered on beyond Johnson.
It was not Marcus Pettersson or Erik Gudbranson. It was [hide] Olli Maatta, two sources close to the situation say.
Another change for the Penguins tonight upfront will be Zach Aston-Reese replacing Teddy Blueger as the coaching staff sticks with Garrett Wilson, preferring Wilson’s physical game for this matchup.
PENGUINS IN SIX
Barry Trotz, the Jack Adams Award front runner, is back to his roots in coaching a team similar to the squads he coached in Nashville for so many years.
Like Nashville, kust an all-in group that played with great structure, worked hard, did all the little things well,and were often overachievers in the regular season.
What often happened in Nashville for Barry Trotz is likely to happen for the Islanders in Round 1 vs Pittsburgh — an early playoff exit –.
Overachieving teams that play the way the Islanders do, often meet their expiration date by Round 1 in the post-season and that’s what should be expected in this series.
The Penguins are certainly vulnerable and have showed that all season, but there’s just going to have to be so many things to right for the Islanders.
And never trust a team in the postseason that doesn’t have a sure-fire No. 1 goaltender.
MORE BUZZ
— Word around the Islanders is a big part of their game plan is going to be making life miserable for Kris Letang in this series. The Isles have studied tape of tactics Barry Trotz’ Capitals did against Letang last year in Round 2, where Letang had a nightmare series.
–Blue Jackets – Lightning
Too much skill, fire power from the Lightning for the Blue Jackets to have a chance in this series. Any chance of this being more than a five game series will come down to Sergei Bobrovsky being very special | Lightning in 5 games
Other Series Getting underway tonight
Stars – Predators
Nashville gets a difficult Round 1 matchup. The Stars have a legit shot from a matchup standpoint to come out and I’d give them the edge in goal with Ben Bishop. | Stars in 7 games
Blues – Jets
Winnipeg is the superior team on the paper but haven’t played well in two months. St. Louis continues to ride momentum into a Round 1 win | Blues in six games
Golden Knights – Sharks
What a pick’em series this will be. San Jose has the high-end talent edge and clear edge on the blueline but there is a ton of pressure on this team with the Erik Karlsson experiment hanging by a thread. Goaltending Edge swings Vegas | Golden Knights in six games [/hide]
