PITTSBURGH — In the first three games of their second-round playoff series, all six of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ even-strength goals came when their Sidney Crosby-led top line was on the ice.
The Washington Capitals, on the other hand, have had contributions from up and down their lineup.
Although Tom Wilson’s hits and recent discipline have become the storyline of this series, the Capitals’ 2-1 lead through three games might best be explained by their variety of primary and secondary scoring in contrast with Pittsburgh’s one productive line.
The Penguins were tied for the third-highest scoring offense in the regular season and averaged 4.7 goals per game in their first-round matchup with Philadelphia. So far, the Capitals have limited that offensive output to Crosby, Jake Guentzel and Patric Hornqvist.
“Sometimes the puck goes in, and sometimes you’re wondering as a player or a line what you have to do to score goals,” Penguins center Derick Brassard said. “It’s about executing out there, being in the right place at the right time and trying to compete as hard as you can.”
Penguins coach Mike Sullivan made several line changes when Evgeni Malkin returned from injury and made his series debut in Game 3, looking to create a spark for the lower lines. Most notably, Phil Kessel swapped lines with Bryan Rust and moved down from the second line to the third, and the fourth line was re-tooled with Brassard and winger Conor Sheary.
But it didn’t create more goals, not even on Malkin’s line. Malkin’s lone point was an assist on a power-play goal by Hornqvist.
“We look for opportunities over the course of a game,” Sullivan said. “We have a plan in mind every game from a matchup standpoint, but there are also instinctive decisions behind the bench where you might be able to take advantage of a certain situation or circumstance, where we can jump-start a line or score a goal if we think we have an advantageous circumstance.”
Meanwhile, only four of Washington’s goals this series have come from Evgeny Kuznetsov’s line. Nicklas Backstrom, Chandler Stephenson, Brett Connolly and Jakub Vrana (on a power play) have added tallies. In Game 3, defensemen John Carlson and Matt Niskanen also chipped in.
“We have trust in each other, each line,” Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. “They know their strengths as individual players and collectively they try to make it work. There’s a lot of communication between the lines, with what will work for them.”
Trotz also credited the team’s veteran centers for their leadership.
“Jay Beagle’s line is probably a little different than Kuzy’s line. So they try to work it out a little bit within our structure, and I think it’s just real good lines of communication,” he said.
Devante Smith-Pelly has two goals and an assist this postseason playing on the third line, but he won’t be part of the bottom six for a while. Smith-Pelly was moved up to the top line with Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov to fill in during Wilson’s three-game suspension.
With experience in both the top six and bottom six, the forward explained what each half does well.
“The top two lines are skilled enough to play east-west and do those kind of things, and I think the bottom two lines on this team, we know that we have to dump it in and chase it and get dirty and go to the net,” Smith-Pelly said. “It comes down to us just knowing our roles and doing them.”
• Adam Zielonka can be reached at azielonka@washingtontimes.com.
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