Capitals vs Penguins Game 1: What Worked and What Didn’t

Well, here we are. Two phenomenal teams — almost certainly the two best remaining in the East — coming head to head in the second round. Incredible special teams on both sides of the coins. Scorching offense from one team, some of the League’s best defense and goaltending from the other. This one will be (and has already been) reduced to Alex Ovechkin versus Sidney Crosby by some, but make no mistakes: the matchups are compelling through the totality of both rosters’ construction.

Let’s take a look at what worked and what didn’t in Game 1 — a 4-3 overtime vicroty for the host Capitals — of a series that promises to be a real thrillride.

What Worked

Although the first few minutes of the second round favored Pittsburgh, the Capitals found their skates quickly…and good thing, because the pace of this thing would take no less. At five-on-five after one, the Caps were winning the possession battle 23 shot attempts to 19, and the high-danger scoring chance 4-1. Not a bad way to open a round.

It was a playoff hat-trick overtime winner against arguably the franchises most hated rival. What more do you need, people?

#Oshie game 1 game winner #CapsPens pic.twitter.com/c6YapTHRdB

— CAPITALS HILL (@CapitalsHill) April 29, 2016

I’m gonna let Sidney’s stat line speak for itself here.

What Didn’t

Oshie’s quick strike response was buoy in deep water, no doubt, but the Caps were, frankly, fortunate to get out of the second period tied. At fives, they were out-shot 15 to 6, out-attempted 27-13, and had six high-danger scoring chances to Washington’s…zero (though it’s worth noting that Oshie’s equalizer is mysteriously absent from this categorization). The second period was a Pittsburgh clinic.

• Face-offs (But not all of them)

The Caps won 46% of the game’s draws and the importance of face-offs is generally overstated. Still, a few things stood out in the dot:

When it came to draws, Matt Cullen ate Evgeny Kuznetsov‘s lunch in the (Caps’) offensive zone, and Crosby owned Nicklas Backstrom‘s all over the ice. (The Caps were 3-for-8 on power-play face-offs, which contributed to an 0-fer with the extra man.)

It wasn’t all bad, though…

Mike Richards and Jay Beagle were very effective, especially in the defensive zone, and Evgeni Malkin wasn’t particularly good in any.

• Alex Ovechkin finishing

Alex Ovechkin had three golden opportunities in this game. One, before the game was three minutes old. Another in the games final moments. Both of those were fairly clear breaks. The third was a(nother) sublime pass from NickBackstrom about 25 seconds into overtime. The first two of the chances terminated after mediocre dekes from the Captain. The third was a plain whiff.

It’s not often that the best goal scorer gets such platinum chances, at such frequency, with such high stakes. It’s disappointing that none went in, given Ovi’s penchant for being an elite finisher. But not for nothing, it was still Ovi’s line who carried the scoreboard last night, albeit the last touch came most often from T.J. Oshie.