Capitals run the rule over the Penguins
The Washington Capitals have had the run over the Penguins this season, much like other Metropolitan division teams this season. With yesterday's 3-1 win the Capitals have won the series between the two this series with one left to play. So far the scores are 10-1 in goals for Washington. That is inexcusable on Pittsburgh's part. Last night there were two vastly different styles of play on show.
The Washington Capitals changed their coach in the summer and now have Barry Trotz behind the helm, somebody whom some fans in Pittsburgh wanted to help fix the defensive frailties that existed in the team at the end of last season. The Capitals have had a huge change in their style compared to the two seasons. Under Adam Oates they were a defensively minded team which affected their production at the other end but they didn't have the personnel to commit to a good job on the back-end. With Trotz they've changed to a team effort but also improved their attacking game, as evidenced in Backstrom and Ovechkin's points totals.
The biggest talking point of the game was the slash by Ovechkin on Letang's ankle which caused him some discomfort and lead to him missing part of the game. I don't believe it was an intentional slash by Ovechkin but I do believe there was no need to do it as the puck was going away from Letang. The biggest worry for me is that the referee's didn't call it, they let it go. Sadly, this seemed to have gotten under the Penguins skin and seemed to dictate their game to get revenge on Ovie rather than what the scoreboard said.
I worry about the Penguins in the play-offs this season. Our record against the Metropolitan is currently 7-10-4 which gives a point % of 42%. In last season the Penguins had a % of 73%. That is a big drop. The Penguins have nine games left against the Metropolitan this season so the best they could go is 16-10-4 which would give them a % of 60%. Which would be an improvement but still behind what the Penguins can do. One thing is for sure, if there is a play-off series between these two it will be electric.
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