Fri. Feb. 02 Washington Capitals @ Pittsburgh Penguins
Place: PPG Paints Arena
Time: 7:00 p.m.
TV: NBCSWA, SN, TVAS, ATTSN-PT
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, Capitals Radio 24/7
Pittsburgh Penguins 59-28-21-3 Last Game: Jan 30, Won 5-2 against Sharks
Washington Capitals 65-30-15-5 Last Game: Jan 31, Won 5-3 against Flyers
Projected Lines
8-Ovechkin 92-Kuznetsov 43-Wilson
65-Burakovsky 19-Bäckström 77-Oshie
18-Stephenson 20-Eller 10-Connolly
39-Chiasson 83-Beagle 25-Smith-Pelly
29-Djoos 74-Carlson
9-Orlov 2-Niskanen
44-Orpik 22-Bowey
70-Holtby (starter)
31-Grubauer
-- SCRATCH --
13-Vrana
4-Chorney
-- INJURED --
-- 1st Powerplay Unit --
77-Oshie 19-Bäckström 92-Kuznetsov
8-Ovechkin 74-Carlson
-- 2nd Powerplay Unit --
39-Chiasson 20-Eller 65-Burakovsky
2-Niskanen 9-Orlov
Referees: Chris Rooney (#5) Tim Peel (#20)
Linesmen: Brad Kovachik (#71), Scott Cherrey (#50)
1st Period02:11 Hens GOAL Kesssel 1-0 PIT
15:50 Hens GOAL Hagelin, unofficial assist by 29-Djoos 2-0 PIT
18:10 GOAL 8-Ovechkin, assist 29-Djoos 2-1 PIT
2nd Period00:26 Hens PP GOAL Hornqvist 3-1 PIT
03:08 GOAL 9-Orlov, assists 20-Eller & 2-Niskanen 3-2 PIT
11:57 GOAL 92-Kuznetsov, assists 43-Wilson & 8-Ovechkin 3-3 TIE
3rd Period01:01 Hens GOAL Malkin 4-3 PIT
01:50 GOAL 8-Ovechkin, assists 92-Kuznetsov & 9-Orlov 4-4 TIE
06:08 Hens PP GOAL Rust 5-4 PIT
07:59 Hens GOAL Kessel 6-4 PIT
10:00 Hens PP GOAL Malkin 7-4 PIT
FINAL: 7-4 PIT
By Jesse Dougherty February 2 at 9:46 AM
Capitals’ second power-play unit is producing with limited opportunity
Andre Burakovsky and the Capitals’ second power-play unit have found success in recent games. (Rob Carr/Getty Images)There is usually less than a minute left on a given Capitals power play when the second unit hops over the boards and onto the ice.
They do so with heightened urgency, knowing they’ll have time to manufacture no more than a few chances in the offensive zone. It often looks like this group — Andre Burakovsky, Lars Eller, Brett Connolly, Dmitry Orlov and Matt Niskanen — picks up mop-up duty after the first unit cannot score a goal. But in January, the Capitals’ second power-play unit has been an instrumental part of the team’s offense.
Overall, the power play has scored nine times in the past 10 games. Four of those goals, including a second-period pinch-in from Burakovsky in a 5-3 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday, have been scored by the second group. The Capitals will look to carry this special teams success (they have also not given up a power-play goal in three games) into a matchup with the Pittsburgh Penguins inside PPG Paints Arena at 7 p.m. on Friday.
“I think we only get 30, 40 seconds, so I think our mind-set when we go over there I think we’re going to try to get a chance,” Connolly said after the Capitals practiced Thursday. “We were actually getting some chances off the rush, which is good.”
“The top unit is going to take up a lot of the time just because they’re really good at controlling the puck in the other end and they’re holding onto it and making plays,” he continued. “We’ll get 30 seconds, so we’re just trying to bear down and try to get a chance. One good, quality chance every time we’re out there. It’s been working so far.”
The Burakovsky goal came with Alex Ovechkin still on the ice, so it wasn’t the complete second unit, even if Nicklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov, T.J. Oshie and John Carlson were on the bench. Ovechkin will often stick on the ice a bit longer than the rest of the first power-play unit, as he is the team’s biggest threat with his slap shot from the left faceoff circle. Ovechkin is leading the NHL with 30 goals and nine have come on the power play.
Capitals Coach Barry Trotz said it is still the “second unit” when Ovechkin is on the ice, but that Ovechkin’s presence certainly makes it a more dangerous one. Opposing penalty kills shift to Ovechkin’s side of the ice to limit his touches, and that opens up space for the other four players on either the first or second unit. In the third period against the Flyers, Oshie was given space in the middle of the zone and whacked in a power-play goal for the first group. On Wednesday, Oshie noted that the second group’s recent success makes it so teams need to game plan for two units instead of one.
“Instead of the pre-scout focusing just on one line the whole time, like we know it is here when we’re scouting other teams, you have two lines you have to worry about,” Oshie said. “You have different breakouts you have to worry about from two different units, and different personnel, whether (Ovechkin) stays or not. So it’s different personnel and it makes it harder and more difficult to get those reads.”
By Jesse Dougherty February 1
Lars Eller and Brett Connolly have been inseparable (and very productive) for the Capitals
Lars Eller and Brett Connolly have been a reliable center-winger pair for the Capitals across the past two seasons. (Nick Wass/Associated Press)
Lars Eller stood in front of his locker and glanced over a box score that would not have looked so favorable without his influence.
At the top, it showed a 5-3 win for the Washington Capitals over the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday night in Capital One Arena. Further down, there were two assists for Eller, the Capitals’ puck-possessing, third-line center and a regular source of offense through the season’s first 50 games. An even closer look revealed Eller and Brett Connolly, who plays on the wing to Eller’s right, were on the ice for the Capitals’ first three goals.
“It looks good,” Eller said, a light smirk tugging at the sides of his mouth. He was soon asked why it’s easy to say the same about his game.
“I think just playing consistently in my spot,” Eller said while slowly folding the box score into a neat square. “I am playing center the whole time, and I am just feeling comfortable. I am just feeling good about my role, my game.”
[For three Capitals, there’s nothing like the joy and relief of ending a goal-scoring drought]
That comfort can be attributed to Eller being in his second season with the franchise, but there is a more nuanced reason. While Capitals Coach Barry Trotz has often mixed up his lineup this season, matching different wingers with different centers on a sometimes game-to-game basis, he has rarely split up Eller and Connolly. The pair, brought in last season for secondary scoring depth, then put together on the third line, continues to provide just that for a team that is not getting enough from top-six forwards such as T.J. Oshie (four even-strength goals) and Andre Burakovsky (four goals in 25 games).
Alex Ovechkin leads the team and the NHL with 30 goals, but there is a significant drop-off after that. Connolly is tied with Evgeny Kuznetsov for second with 13 — two away from the career high he set while playing with Eller last season — and Eller has 10 goals and 15 assists. Eller and Connolly are also on the second power-play unit, which has scored four times in the past nine games.
“They seem to read off each other, and [Connolly] is a natural finisher on that line for a lot of reasons,” Trotz said Wednesday morning. “They’ve played a lot of games together. I try to pair guys for the most part and take two guys on each line who you think will work together, and you sort of move the other part around. Lars and Conno have done that the last two years, so they’ve been productive, and Lars’s line has carried us for a couple weeks now.”
Trotz’s lineup tinkering continued Wednesday: He sat forward Jakub Vrana as a healthy scratch and bumped Chandler Stephenson up to the third line with Eller and Connolly. That led to two Stephenson goals in 47 seconds of the second period, the first after Eller fired an odd-angle shot at the net and created a rebound for Stephenson to tap in. Trotz has even separated Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom in recent weeks, and he has cycled new parts around centers Backstrom, Kuznetsov and Jay Beagle. But he has not moved away from his pairing of Eller and Connolly, and he said after the win over the Flyers that they have, outside of Ovechkin, been the team’s best players as of late.
On Friday night, the Capitals face the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena, which they have visited often in the second round of back-to-back playoff runs. The Penguins have not received the same kind of secondary scoring punch that Eller and Connolly have provided: There is a drop-off after Evgeni Malkin (26 goals), Phil Kessel (21), Sidney Crosby (17), Patric Hornqvist (15), Jake Guentzel (15) and Conor Sheary (12). After that, no player has more than six goals, and the Penguins (28-21-3), who have scored 14 times in their past three games (all home wins), are six points behind the Capitals in the Metropolitan Division.
The third-line production has helped the Capitals (30-15-5) to the best record in the division and the league’s eighth-best offense at 3.04 goals per game. And while it’s only the start of February, that’s the kind of factor that could swing a playoff series if more of the Capitals’ top-six forwards hit their stride.
“I think we just read off each other well,” Connolly said of Eller and himself. “I think Lars is really good in the corners, and we’re kind of getting that chemistry from last year. It took us a little bit this year to get it back, but we knew we were going to find it, and it’s been a lot of fun. He’s been a big part of getting my game going in the kind of direction I want it to be.”
[Chandler Stephenson surprises with a pair of goals in Capitals’ win over Flyers]
They complement each other as feeder and scorer. Eller is a strong puck possessor and skilled passer, and Connolly needs no more than a split-second to fire a shot.
At this time last season, with Burakovsky on the left wing, the third line was boiling hot. In an 18-game stretch connecting January to February, the line combined for 22 goals and 17 assists. Burakovsky notched seven goals and eight assists in that span, Eller had seven and five, and Connolly had eight and four.
This season’s surge is not as flashy. Connolly has four goals in the past six games, and Eller finished January with five goals and three assists. But the pair is still waiting for a solidified part on the left wing; Connolly said Wednesday morning that he thought it could be Stephenson heading into that role for the next couple months. Stephenson then went out and scored twice against the Flyers, doubling his career goal total in less than a minute, to make his bid to stick in that role.
There is no telling whether Trotz will make Stephenson, Eller and Connolly his regular third line. But there are now two seasons’ worth of evidence that Eller and Connolly won’t be separated any time soon.
“He’s the one guy that I played with since I’ve been here, played with the most,” Eller said of Connolly. “Probably also the guy I’ve had the best chemistry with. We seem to work well together, so that’s probably the reason he hasn’t split us up.”
