Eastern Conference: (2) Capitals vs. (4) Penguins
lanky wrote:
i don\'t know how many times (if any) they played after guerin, kunitz, and byslma joined up with the pens... and in that respect, this series could be as difficult to judge for the caps as their last one (with avery, morris, antropov, and tortorella).
WAS @ PIT [WAS wins 4-3] Oct. 16th
Summary-WAS is outshot 20-9 through 2 periods and trails 3-1, but storms out in the 3rd firing 21 shots and scoring 3 times to eek out a win. No Gonchar, Whitney, Guerin, Kunitz or Bylsma.
WAS @ PIT [WAS wins 6-3] Jan. 14th
Summary-PIT was playing their 2nd of back-to-back games having slugged is out 4-2 over the FLYERS the day before. WAS played the night before also, but against EDM and lost 5-2...apparently this was a motivating factor. WAS went 2/3 on the PP and peppered Fleury with 42 shots on goal to PIT\'s 29. R. Whitney was in the lineup...he\'ll have just returned.
PIT @ WAS [WAS wins 5-2] Feb. 22nd [Sun. afternoon]
Summary-Once again PIT played a huge game the day before [the FLYERS again] and won 5-4. Despite a WAS parade to the sin bin PIT came up short going 1/7 to WAS\'s 2/3 on the PP. Fleury was pulled in the 2nd period. I believe Bylsma started on Feb. 16th so this would have been his 3rd game coaching and his first loss I believe. Gonchar and Whitney were in the lineup.
PIT @ WAS [PIT wins 4-3 in a SO] March 8th [Sun. afternoon]
Summary-WAS needed 2 3rd period goals to force overtime and secure a single point. This will have been the only game with Guerin and Kunitz in the lineup.
PIT\'s record in afternoon games is 7-12 [I didn\'t bother adding the specifics of SO\'s and overtime into this equation].
It\'s tough to get a firm read on this coming series as PIT is really a very different team than the one WAS faced for 3 of their 4 regular season games. The March 8th game being the closest comparison. PIT playing and beating their rivals from PHI the day before 2 of the WAS wins is telling to me. PIT gave a great effort the day before and struggled to match the intensity level the following day with no time to rest up. Also, 3 of the regular season games were without Gonchar, Kunitz, and Guerin. Only 2 of the games were with Bylsma behind the bench.
At the very least we should surmise that the WAS series lead of 3-0-1 is misleading. These two teams should be very close in ability and aptitude. Assuming the stars come to play and both G hold the fort, this series should come down to depth scoring and I\'d give an edge to Staal and the PENS in this category, but you can all draw your own conclusions.
10 Team [keep 10 + 4 prospects]
Scoring F=1[g/a]; D=2[g], 1[a]; G=2[w], -1[L], 1[OT], 2[SO] Top 12 F, 6 D, 2 G count
Forwards
Crosby, Ovechkin, Backstrom, Wheeler, Byfuglien, Hornqvist, Simmonds, Ladd, Zuccarello, Ribeiro, Desharnais, Semin, MacArthur, Moulson, Purcell, Soderberg, Dupuis
Defense
Keith, Goligoski, Carlson, Krug, Trouba, Streit, Pouliot, Ceci, Nurse, Martinez
Goalie
Fleury/Price/Rask