Bryan Rust lit the flames of the Capitals-Penguins rivalry on Wednesday despite both teams being on summer vacation now for over a month.
The Pittsburgh Penguins winger was a guest on well-known gaming streamer Ninja’s live broadcast and proclaimed his belief that, unlike the Capitals, the Penguins not only would have won at least one game against the New York Rangers in this year’s playoffs but would have eliminated them in a first-round series.
Pittsburgh missed out on the playoffs for a second consecutive season after Washington clinched a postseason berth in their final game against the Philadelphia Flyers. The Capitals lost in four games to the Rangers in round one and New York has since gone on to the Eastern Conference Final.
“I think we would have beat the Rangers,” Rust told Ninja. “Oh, yeah. It would have depended on a couple factors but I think we would have beat them. I think it’s a matchup thing. You look across the league and there’s just teams you do well against and just teams you don’t. I feel like the Rangers would have been good for us if we could have figured out our penalty kill and power playwhere can i watch montreal canadiens. Our power play was absolute trash all year.”
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New York went 2-1 against Pittsburgh this past regular season but did lose to the Penguins 5-2 on home ice in early April. The two sides have matched up in the playoffs recently with the Rangers eliminating the Penguins in seven games during the 2022 first round.
Rust’s comments about his team’s special teams units are accurate as Pittsburgh finished with the 30th-ranked power play in the league. Todd Reirden, former head coach of the Capitals, led Pittsburgh’s power play to their poor showing which resulted in him being fired by the club in early May.
Special teams were a huge factor in the Capitals-Rangers series as the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Rangers were thoroughly outplayed by the last-seeded Capitals at five-on-five.
In the four games while at five-on-five, the Capitals held 52.4 percent of the expected goals, 54.9 percent of the scoring chances, and 56.5 percent of the high-danger chances. New York only outscored Washington 7-5 at even strength but were aided by a power play that scored five times and a penalty kill that scored two shorthanded goals and gave up only two Capitals goals.
The Rangers went on to also eliminate the Carolina Hurricanes and are now deadlocked at two wins apiece in their Conference Final matchup with the Florida Panthers. New York’s five-on-five play hasn’t gotten any better as the postseason has gone on. Through 14 games, they’ve seen just 44 percent of the shot attempts, 45.4 percent of the expected goals, 43.4 percent of the scoring chances, and 42 percent of the high-danger chances.
MoneyPuck has Igor Shesterkin, the team’s goaltender, stopping over 10 more goals than expected over those 14 games. Only the Boston Bruins’ Jeremy Swayman (13.3) ranks higher than Shesterkin.
So, while Rust’s assertion that Pittsburgh may have had a chance to eliminate New York in the first round has some merit, the Penguins simply missed the playoffs and the Capitals did not. Pittsburgh should not have lost twice to Washington during the regular season if they wanted the opportunity. One of those losses came in embarrassing 6-0 fashion in early March.borje salming toronto maple leafs jersey
To make matters worse for the Penguins, they will not pick in the first round of the upcoming draft due to some aggressive retooling and results in this year’s playoffs. The Hurricanes did not make the Stanley Cup Final which would have turned the second-round pick Pittsburgh received from Carolina for winger Jake Guentzel at the trade deadline into a first-round pick.
Pittsburgh’s own first-round selection belongs to San Jose via the deal that brought Erik Karlsson to the Penguins. They otherwise would have been slated to pick 14th in the opening round.
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