NHL Hockey Betting: Stanley Cup Playoffs for May 10, 2016
Just one Stanley Cup game on the board for Tuesday but it’s a good one:
WASHINGTON CAPITALS AT PITTSBURGH PENGUINS:
The Washington Capitals want to keep playing hockey and to do so they’ll have to win here to force a Game 7 at the Verizon Center. The Pittsburgh Penguins want to be done with the Capitals so they can move through to the Eastern Conference Finals. The Tampa Bay Lightning will await the winner of this series and they’d love to see it go seven games. Pittsburgh held a 3-1 lead going into Game 5 in Washington but the Capitals took a 3-1 victory to stave off elimination and set up this contest.
Despite the Penguins’ advantage in the series it’s been very closely contested. Four of the five games to date have been decided by a single goal. Two of the games went to overtime. But that’s life in the National Hockey League playoffs and why experience dealing with this type of postseason pressure is so important. Just ask the New York Islanders how that works. The difference in Game Five was goaltending and special teams. Braden Holtby was a force in net for the Capitals, stopping 30 of 31 Pittsburgh shots on goal. The Capitals’ power play hit on 2 of 5 chances including this one timer from the top of the faceoff circle by Alex Ovechkin. I think he’s done this before.
Aside from the penalty killing and mediocre at best play from Matt Murray the Penguins did a lot of things right. They held Washington to just 19 shots on goal–it’s the second time in the series that the Capitals have had less than 20 shots on net. Even with the two power play goals against if Matt Murray plays up to form the Penguins don’t have to play this game. The good news is that if Pittsburgh can do the same things they did in Game 5 with the aforementioned ‘corrections’ they can end the series here. Although there are some in the media calling for Matt Murray to get the hook (no, Lindy Ruff isn’t one of them) head coach Mike Sullivan nipped that talk in the bud by naming the 21 year old rookie as the Game Six starter. Marc-Andre Fleury is reportedly ready to return after his lengthy post concussion rehab but it’s not wise to throw a goalie into the mix when he hasn’t played in over a month. Besides, Murray is such a feisty competitor–a rarity at his young age–chances are good he redeems himself for his shaky Game 5 performance.
Another issue facing the Penguins–they need to get Sidney Crosby involved in the offense. Sid is playing OK in other phases of the game but the Penguins need his scoring. The Capitals’ defense has clamped down hard on Crosby, literally and figuratively. On the other side of the ice, Capitals’ captain Alex Ovechkin is playing beastly hockey–and not just his booming power play goal in Game Five. Here’s Dan Steinberg in the Washington Post simultaneously explaining Ovie’s impact on his teammates and this series with a bonus of him calling out the utter stupidity of ESPN when they try to talk hockey:
On Washington’s list of issues, though, you can cross off Ovechkin’s name.
“That’s leadership,” Trotz said of his captain’s performance.
The potential story line, of course, has been too delicious to ignore: Sidney Crosby and Ovechkin, both generational stars and career-long rivals, again leading the Eastern Conference’s two best teams. And with the Penguins leading the series, the conversation headed in a predictable direction. “Alex Ovechkin’s legacy taking another hit in series against Sidney Crosby,” read the ESPN.com headline this week, while another ESPN talking head suggested Ovechkin should be traded if the Caps can’t beat the Penguins.
Swallow that for a second, and then try not to spit up when watching Ovechkin’s explosion Saturday night. He earned the team’s first power play by storming through Pittsburgh’s defense, then needed just eight seconds to boom a slap shot into the back of the net. He set up Washington’s second power-play goal with another blast; the rebound was a layup for T.J. Oshie. How dangerous is that shot?
“You don’t have to ask me about that; you watched it 10 years in a row,” Evgeny Kuznetsov said. “People can’t stop that. We just need to give him a good pass.”
And Ovechkin was again impossible to miss at even strength. He put six shots on goal, two more than anyone else on the ice. He landed three hits, as many as any player. He likely could have drawn another penalty by eating Conor Sheary’s stick; that contact hardly slowed his progress.
“I mean, he’s our leader. We look up to him,” Oshie said. “When we see a guy like him — that can beat you in so many different ways — come out and bring that type of energy, you better get on board.”
“If you see how he crashes into people,” Kuznetsov added, “it always gives you emotion.”
The way that ESPN has buried the Stanley Cup playoffs with non-existent coverage and embarrassed themselves with their stupidity when they do try to cover hockey is shameful–but a conversation for another time.
There’s nothing wrong with Washington’s team or effort. As we noted above, they’ve lost three games by a single goal including one in overtime. Even beyond the Ovie vs. Sid matchup this is a hell of a series matchup. The Washington Capitals were the best team in the NHL this season with 120 points. The Pittsburgh Penguins were the hottest team coming into the playoffs winning 14 of their last 16 regular season games and going 7-3 so far in the postseason. Should the Caps lose they’ve lost to a team that has won 21 of their last 26 games and finished with the second highest point total in the NHL. Big embarrassment there…
But in a battle between consistency and momentum we’ll go with the momentum of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Don’t think Mike Sullivan–who was completely slighted by not getting a nomination for the Jack Adams Trophy for ‘coach of the year’–will let this one go back to DC.
BET PITTSBURGH PENGUINS -135 OVER WASHINGTON CAPITALS