Caps, Pens have no secrets
Now that Mike Sullivan and Barry Trotz have matched wits in a playoff series for three consecutive years, they harbour very few secrets.
The Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals know each other inside-out from 17 postseason games since 2016.
The coaches are familiar with the dynamics of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Alex Ovechkin and just about all the other moving pieces.
“Every move that we make there’s a counter move, and every move they make there’s a little counter move,” Trotz said.
“It’s funny: A lot of them are the same things that we’ve seen at different parts in the last couple series. They just come in different order sometimes at you. There’s only maybe so many bricks that you have and they are just lined up a different way all the time.”
Sullivan moved his pieces around Thursday as Pittsburgh tied the series at 2-2, and now Trotz gets the next chance in Game 5 on Saturday. After Ovechkin put no shots on net for the third time in his playoff career — with Tom Wilson suspended the first of three games — he’s trying to find the right mix on the top line.
Trotz tried Devante SmithPelly with Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov, and that trio was outshot 21-9 at even strength. Maybe Smith-Pelly will be back on that line, maybe he won’t after the Capitals coaching staff pored over video to see what went wrong.
“We’re looking at that,” Trotz said. “I think that whole line has to be better for us. They’re going to need to be productive.”
Pittsburgh’s top line of Jake Guentzel, Sidney Crosby and whomever else has been incredibly productive. All 10 of the Penguins’ goals in the series have come with Crosby on the ice, and Guentzel leads all players in the playoffs with 10 goals and 21 points.
“I just think he’s the best player in the game,” Sullivan said of Crosby, who played with Guentzel and Dominik Simon in Game 4. “Sid certainly makes everybody around him better players but you’ve got to give Jake a lot of credit for the game that he’s playing.”
CHESS MATCH II
In the West, Nashville coach Peter Laviolette also made a key change in the series between the NHL’s top two teams, benching Kevin Fiala in favour of Scott Hartnell for more size, strength and experience against Winnipeg.
That, plus replacing Alexei Emelin with Yannick Weber, allowed Nashville to better counter imposing Winnipeg defenceman Dustin Byfuglien in tying the series at 2-2. Game 5 is Saturday in Nashville.
Laviolette said making a change involves taking into account the opposition, building, a player’s experience and style of play.
“They’re never easy,” Laviolette said.
“But I thought the guys that went in the lineup last night did a really good job. Hartnell played a good game. He did what we were hoping he would do, and I thought Yannick Weber went in and played a good game.”
Winnipeg coach Paul Maurice started mixing up his lines in the third period. He swapped centres, skating Mark Scheifele with Nikolaj Ehlers and Patrik Laine with Paul Stastny between Blake Wheeler and Kyle Connor.