The Penguins are not the only team in the Eastern Division of the NHL with some important obstacles to overcome if they want to qualify for the playoffs.
The other competitors in the division also have shortcomings. Which four of the top six finishers will end up being eliminated is a difficult decision at this point. But with less than half of the remaining 56 games, each club has a potential bogeyman that can get in its way.
The Buffalo Sabers (16 points) are sunk. And it would be a miracle for the New Jersey Devils (28 points) to climb to the top four.
Therefore, we will look at the other teams within the division in ascending order and determine what the Achilles’ heel might be to prevent them from entering the postseason or causing their early departure from it.
New York Rangers (6th place, 32 points): Playing catching
The Rangers have been doing really well lately, winning three out of four. Their 32 points put them just four, drawing Boston’s 36 in fourth place. But they have already played 31 games. The Islanders are the only club in the division to have played more.
Winning just four times in the first 14 games of the season can be a very deep hole to escape. They also need to start winning more games at home. The Blueshirts are only 7-6-3 at Madison Square Garden.
Philadelphia Flyers (5th place, 34 points): Goaltending
This was supposed to be the year when something other than a goalkeeper killed the Flyers.
But Carter Hart did not take the step forward he had hoped for with an 8-8-3 record, a percentage of saves of 0.875 and goals against the average of 3.85. And Brian Elliott is a marginal goalkeeper (7-4-1, 0.892, 2.88) being asked to do more while Hart finds out.
Entering the game on Tuesday night, the Philadelphia team’s defense percentage of 0.881 was last in the NHL with the Ottawa Senators. Your 5 to 5 save percentage of 0.894 is in last place. This is despite the fact that the Flyers are only 26th in chances of scoring a high danger against while 5-on-5 (68).
Boston Bruins (4th place, 36 points): Goal scoring depth
The Bruins need more goals than their first three, Patrice Bergeron (10 goals / 25 points), David Pastrnak (14 goals / 26 points) and Brad Marchand (12 goals / 34 points). They scored 36 of the team’s 75 goals.
After that, it’s not much. Only one other player – Nick Ritchie (8) – has more than five goals. Charlie McAvoy and David Krejci are the only other players with more than 15 points. Krejci has a goal and 15 assists.
The Bruins are 21st in goals per game with 2.68, the worst average of any team currently in a playoff position. Still, his 31.6 shots per game is the NHL’s fourth best.
Most of your players just can’t finish now. Its 8.5% shot percentage is 25 in the league.
Pittsburgh Penguins (3rd place, 40 points): Injuries / frontal depth
The goalkeeper has been doing better lately than at the beginning of the year. And the blue line has stabilized with all eight of the franchise’s top defenders skating again after an injury spell at the start of the season.
But with Evgeni Malkin, Teddy Blueger, Brandon Tanev and Jason Zucker currently injured, the Penguins struggle to defeat a team with an advanced group worthy of the top six.
Much less a top nine or 12. Sidney Crosby’s top line between Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust is still very good. In addition, the only player worthy of the top six to match now is Kasperi Kapanen.
The Penguins had no depth before their injuries. Now they are paper thin.
Washington Capitals (2nd place, 44 points): Getting to the power game
I may have said goalkeeper for them, as I did for Philly. Washington is 21st in the team’s save percentage (0.901). But Vitek Vanecek won six out of seven. And in five of those wins, he allowed two goals or less.
How will he do in the playoffs? Who knows. This is a legitimate question.
But it is difficult to find a potentially fatal flaw now for the capitals. They won seven out of eight. But I will say coming to the power game. Washington’s man-up unit scores a 25.6% drop. It is the best in the East and the sixth in the NHL. But it’s not on the ice enough.
Caps had only 78 power-play opportunities. Entering the game on Tuesday night, only Buffalo had less.
Does this mean that the Caps are not skating enough to tie penalties? Aren’t they getting enough calls from employees? Are they comfortable enough in most games that they don’t need to make the calls? Maybe it’s a little bit of everything.
But with such good power play, the Caps would benefit if they released it more often. Maybe this goes hand in hand with the need for a few more goals from his blue line. John Carlson has seven. Dmitry Orlov has three. He is the only other defender with more than two.
Although many teams in the East may be asking for that too.
On Wednesday’s “Breakfast With Benz” hockey podcast, TribLive Penguins beat writer Seth Rorabaugh pointed to age as a potential problem for Washington. Caps entered the 2021 season with the league’s oldest average age of 29.7 years.
“They are an older team,” said Rorabaugh. “A lot of guys in their thirties. And they didn’t get any younger in this off-season with Justin Schultz and Zdeno Chara – good players who won championships in this league – but they didn’t leave the younger team. Going through this routine (with the compressed schedule) that each team is going through, is it a little more difficult for one of the oldest teams in the league? “
The rest of the East hopes so.
New York Islanders (1st place, 46 points): The time
From now on, Islanders cannot afford to play Sabers or Devils again until the last week of the season.
Until May 3, all Islanders games will be against the top six teams in the Eastern Division.
That said, the team closes with four games against these two clubs. So, if Islanders need points late to qualify for the playoffs or get a better position for them, there will be points to be earned.
Islanders could also help each other by narrowing their home divisions. New York is an excellent 13-1-2 at home. But they are 8-7-2 on the road.
At the Wednesday’s “Breakfast With Benz” hockey podcast, Seth Rorabaugh gives his views on what may be the biggest obstacle for each team in the Eastern Division. We look at the deep challenges that penguins face. And delve further into the problems that the Buffalo Sabers face when they come to the PPG Paints Arena for games on Wednesday and Thursday.
Tim Benz is a staff writer for the Tribune-Review. You can contact Tim at [email protected] or via Twitter. All tweets can be posted again. All emails are subject to publication, unless otherwise specified.
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Penguins / NHL | Sports | Breakfast with Benz