Penguins, Capitals meet in decisive Game 7
Penguins, Capitals meet in decisive Game 7
After staving off elimination with a 5-4 OT win in Game 6, the Washington Capitals have the comfort of home ice in tonight's seventh and deciding game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. While the Caps' Alex Ochevin and the Pens' Sidney Crosby will be front and center in media attention for this one, Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury could be the key player on the ice as he looks to rebounde from a poor effort on Monday.
It’s a great day for hockey.
Former Pittsburgh Penguins coach Bob “Badger” Johnson would certainly agree. The team he guided almost 20 years ago to its first Stanley Cup in franchise history is locked in a tremendous playoff battle with the Washington Capitals. The battle ends Wednesday night at the Verizon Center with the winner moving on to the Eastern Conference final.
The series might be split down the middle at three games apiece, but the Over and the puckline have been highly profitable against the betting odds. The over is 4-2 thus far on a total of 5½ goals; although three games went into overtime, the result against the total had already been decided after 60 minutes in all three cases. Meanwhile, bettors have cashed in five times taking the underdog against the spread. The dog has won each of the last two games (in overtime) after losing three of four by a single goal.
The road team has been the underdog in each game. It’s more of the same on Wednesday; the Penguins are +125 on the moneyline and +1½, -240 on the early puckline. The total remains 5½ goals. My personal preference here is with Pittsburgh +1½. The payout is lower, but so is the risk in a Game 7 that is likely to be played close to the vest.
That’s code talk for dirty. The playoffs in both the NHL and NBA have been, to use another code word, old-school. Alex Ovechkin is hitting everything that moves, including Sergei Gonchar, who is a game-time decision for Wednesday night after colliding knee-on-knee with Ovechkin in Game 4 last Friday. Pittsburgh’s power play still went 3-for-7 in the past two games without Gonchar.
It’s amazing the Capitals are in this series at all. They’ve been outshot in every single game, usually by a wide margin:
Game 1: 36-26
Game 2: 36-33
Game 3: 42-23
Game 4: 28-22
Game 5: 42-31
Game 6: 42-24
Credit rookie Simeon Varlamov and his .925 save percentage in 12 playoff games (Jose Theodore made the other start) for keeping the Capitals alive in this series. Marc-Andre Fleury (.901 SV%) simply isn’t having the same success at the other end. But even when he has a bad game like Monday (five goals on 24 shots in 66 minutes), the Penguins are peppering Varlamov at the other end and scoring enough to cash in.
The difference in shots on goal can be blamed to some extent on the thinning of the Washington blueline. Jeff Schultz (back) is on the shelf; he was a plus-13 this year, fourth on the team and second behind Mike Green (plus-24) among defensemen. There is a ridiculous drop in talent between Green and the rest of Washington’s defensive corps. Pittsburgh has players like Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski to pick up the slack in Gonchar’s absence.
The Capitals are otherwise a brilliant team and very deserving of the second seed in the East at 50-24-8. They were third in the league in scoring during the regular season at 3.27 goals per game; Pittsburgh was ranked No. 6 at 3.15 goals. The Caps also took the over to the pay window at a tasty 45-32-5, although much of that was with Theodore in net. The under was 8-3-1 for Varlamov before this series began. He held the Rangers to seven goals in six games, but the Rangers were also one of the lowest-scoring teams in the NHL at 2.44 goals per game, ahead of only the Islanders and Avalanche. This is the best competition Varlamov has ever faced, and it shows.
Game 7 starts at 7:00 p.m. Eastern with Versus providing the TV coverage in the United States and CBC taking over the reins in Canada.
After staving off elimination with a 5-4 OT win in Game 6, the Washington Capitals have the comfort of home ice in tonight's seventh and deciding game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. While the Caps' Alex Ochevin and the Pens' Sidney Crosby will be front and center in media attention for this one, Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury could be the key player on the ice as he looks to rebounde from a poor effort on Monday.
It’s a great day for hockey.
Former Pittsburgh Penguins coach Bob “Badger” Johnson would certainly agree. The team he guided almost 20 years ago to its first Stanley Cup in franchise history is locked in a tremendous playoff battle with the Washington Capitals. The battle ends Wednesday night at the Verizon Center with the winner moving on to the Eastern Conference final.
The series might be split down the middle at three games apiece, but the Over and the puckline have been highly profitable against the betting odds. The over is 4-2 thus far on a total of 5½ goals; although three games went into overtime, the result against the total had already been decided after 60 minutes in all three cases. Meanwhile, bettors have cashed in five times taking the underdog against the spread. The dog has won each of the last two games (in overtime) after losing three of four by a single goal.
The road team has been the underdog in each game. It’s more of the same on Wednesday; the Penguins are +125 on the moneyline and +1½, -240 on the early puckline. The total remains 5½ goals. My personal preference here is with Pittsburgh +1½. The payout is lower, but so is the risk in a Game 7 that is likely to be played close to the vest.
That’s code talk for dirty. The playoffs in both the NHL and NBA have been, to use another code word, old-school. Alex Ovechkin is hitting everything that moves, including Sergei Gonchar, who is a game-time decision for Wednesday night after colliding knee-on-knee with Ovechkin in Game 4 last Friday. Pittsburgh’s power play still went 3-for-7 in the past two games without Gonchar.
It’s amazing the Capitals are in this series at all. They’ve been outshot in every single game, usually by a wide margin:
Game 1: 36-26
Game 2: 36-33
Game 3: 42-23
Game 4: 28-22
Game 5: 42-31
Game 6: 42-24
Credit rookie Simeon Varlamov and his .925 save percentage in 12 playoff games (Jose Theodore made the other start) for keeping the Capitals alive in this series. Marc-Andre Fleury (.901 SV%) simply isn’t having the same success at the other end. But even when he has a bad game like Monday (five goals on 24 shots in 66 minutes), the Penguins are peppering Varlamov at the other end and scoring enough to cash in.
The difference in shots on goal can be blamed to some extent on the thinning of the Washington blueline. Jeff Schultz (back) is on the shelf; he was a plus-13 this year, fourth on the team and second behind Mike Green (plus-24) among defensemen. There is a ridiculous drop in talent between Green and the rest of Washington’s defensive corps. Pittsburgh has players like Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski to pick up the slack in Gonchar’s absence.
The Capitals are otherwise a brilliant team and very deserving of the second seed in the East at 50-24-8. They were third in the league in scoring during the regular season at 3.27 goals per game; Pittsburgh was ranked No. 6 at 3.15 goals. The Caps also took the over to the pay window at a tasty 45-32-5, although much of that was with Theodore in net. The under was 8-3-1 for Varlamov before this series began. He held the Rangers to seven goals in six games, but the Rangers were also one of the lowest-scoring teams in the NHL at 2.44 goals per game, ahead of only the Islanders and Avalanche. This is the best competition Varlamov has ever faced, and it shows.
Game 7 starts at 7:00 p.m. Eastern with Versus providing the TV coverage in the United States and CBC taking over the reins in Canada.
