Penguins recall Sprong, Black Aces

On Saturday, the Pittsburgh Penguins essentially brought together their "Black Aces" team by remembering 13 players, including winger Daniel Sprong of Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins, their AHL affiliate.

The Black Aces travel with and shade the NHL squad through the playoffs, practicing and fighting each other to stay in shape in case the injuries require their inclusion in the 23-player roster of the night game.

Several new Black Aces players played in the NHL this season, including Sprong, Jooris and Jarry.

This season, Sprong had three points (2g, 1a) in eight NHL games. He declined quickly after a strong start, even playing alongside Sidney Crosby. Sprong scored 65 points (33g, 32a) in 65 AHL games, was named to the AHL rookie team and played in the AHL All-Star game.

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Sprong, 21, was also part of the 2016 Black Aces team. He suffered a shoulder injury during ice training that required surgery and cost him most of last season. Sprong will be an RFA after the season.

The penguins acquired Jooris at the Carolina Hurricanes trade deadline in exchange for the Greg McKegg center. Jooris played 31 NHL games for Carolina this season and scored six points (3g, 3a). He did not score in nine games with the Penguins.

Pedan, 24, was acquired at the beginning of this season by the vanished perspective Derrick Pouliot. Pedan did not play in the NHL this season. He scored nine goals and 17 assists in 52 games of AHL. Pouliot had 22 points (3g, 19a) in 71 games in the NHL, but he was also a -22.

Jarry played 26 games in the NHL this season. He lost the backing competition of Casey DeSmith after Jarry recorded a save percentage of .908 and 2.77 goals against the average.

The Charlotte Checkers eliminated the WBS Penguins in their playoff series in the first round, 3-0.

Penguins’ quick strikes in third earn them a 3-2 win over Capitals

After the Washington Capitals scored early, the Pittsburgh Penguins scored often to stun their rivals with another comeback.

Patric Hornqvist, Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel scored in a span of 4:49 to help Pittsburgh erase a two-goal deficit in the third period and the Penguins beat Washington 3-2 on Thursday night in the Game. 1 of the second round series.

Without showing panic by allowing a goal to Evgeny Kuznetsov in the 17 seconds of the game and another to Alex Ovechkin at 28 seconds of the third period, the consecutive defending champions of the Stanley Cup took another advantage of the series typical of the penguins.

Playing without injured strikers Evgeni Malkin and Carl Hagelin, Pittsburgh naturally fed on Crosby, who had a goal and an assist.

Washington Capitals moments in their playoff rivalry with the Pittsburgh Penguins

In this series of Penguins-Capitals there can be fights that make Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin similar in that they are tied to the hip joint. They can not escape from each other, on the ice or in the form of a conversation. Sid and Ovi joined the league together in 2005. They are very different players, and they had a very excellent career Hall of Fame, but in a sense they are inseparable.

Ovechkin has 1112 career points; Crosby has 1116 people.

As they arrived in the league, the Crosby Penguins accumulated 1,273 points in the regular season standings; In the capitals of Ovechkin accumulated 1253 people.

It is tempting to blame the failures in the postseason period of the Capitals on Ovechkin ("he's a loser!") And the temptation to completely release him. Both would be reductive and lazy. But there is a fundamental difference between Crosby and Ovechkin, and this manifested itself in the spring.

Crosby is a hockey sponge. He always watches the games. He remains after practice at all seasons to turn his weaknesses into strengths, even when no one has seen weaknesses. He loves playing as a kid loves his favorite toy. He takes it everywhere. It concerns all its parts. He can not imagine a day without him.

Ovechkin is not like that. It is quite competitive on the ice, but it may seem to him indifferent. He was never known as an excellent practitioner. He often appears on the Caps site, unaware of what happened in the league the day before.

Every time the penguins take ice, they know that their captain has done everything. Crosby is not just the most complete player of his generation; he is the most complete player he could be. Tim Duncan, his Brady. His attitude forms the whole of his franchise.

The penguins are falling in line for Crosby. Capitals must fall in line around Ovechkin. This does not keep Capital from winning the Cup, but this makes them difficult. In the playoffs, the difference between winning and losing is so thin. The whole series can end with a bounce rebound on two-on-one, which happened only because someone finished the check and the puck jumped in the right direction, and even the winning team does not know exactly why she won. But it certainly helps to understand that you have done everything you could have done before that moment.

When the team repeatedly loses in the postseason, we often say - or imply - that they are chokers: the pressure has reached them. Sometimes it's true, and the story of the postseason in Capitals is filled with so many collapses that it's easy to label their choker.

More often, however, there are other reasons for repeated failures after the season, in sports: injuries, luck, hot goalkeeper, repeatedly stumbling upon a super-team. And sometimes what seems suffocating is actually a team that is exposed. This, like everything that happened to Ovechkin and the capitals. The caps were very similar to their star: good enough to dominate the winter, but not full enough to win in the spring.

And that brings us to the Caps-Pens series this year. The capitals are in a rare position: they have experience in the postseason and an advantage on the ice, but they still lost. Perhaps this puts them in the right mental place to finally defeat the penguins. Perhaps these other factors - injuries, luck, hot goalkeeper - are finally on their side. Maybe Ovechkin has changed, slightly, or maybe it does not matter. Maybe the capital can do this year. A lot of strange things happened, especially in the playoffs of hockey. I'm sure Ovechkin's team is confident that they will win. But the Crosby team knows that this is possible.

Penguins-Capitals to Play Game 1 April 26 at 7:00PM at Capital

You were with a grid for a week and a half. You wake up, and the Washington capitals won their second round against the Pittsburgh penguins. How did this happen?

Greg Uyszynski, a senior NHL writer: Oh, how crazy is that the penguins had the NHL franchise chart chart withdrawn in the middle of the playoffs, since this is by far the only way they can lose a series in the capitals? Wait, they did not?

Well, look at this: Washington's recipe for success in its first round of the series against the Columbus Blue Jackets series somehow prepared a victory over the penguins. "Capitals" scored the goal in each game and closed the game in Pittsburgh in every victory. Goalie Braden Holtby was the best player on the ice for a couple of games. Rookie contenders Devante Smith-Pelly, Jakub Vran and Chandler Stevenson scored the key goals because they knew nothing better. Alexei Ovechkin had eight points in six games. Operative phrase: six games. No sphincter-squeezing "How-do-It-All-Go-To-Hell" in the 7th game in D.C. Because if the series goes so deep, it is obvious that we will not conduct this conversation.

Emily Kaplan, NHL National Reporter: The Capitals were in a dangerous situation. Not burdened by external expectations (not the trophy of the presidents), the team really felt more pressure than ever. They knew that their coach, Barry Trotz, had no contract for the next season and most likely would not return to win the Stanley Cup, and even then it was not given. Cape also knew that GM Brian MacLellan would shake the list decisively if they fell back on the penguins.

Thus, they raised one feature of the play to win this series in six games. Of course, it helped that Handles played the equivalent of an extra half-season hockey in the last two Stanley Cups. Washington also took advantage of the fact that Evgeni Malkin and Patrick Hornqvist missed the games with protracted injuries. The power game of the Penguins was uncharacteristically tamed - oh, sorry, this is the fantasy "Capital". I wanted to say that Washington continued a violent assassination in the box from the Blue Jackets series. In addition, I'm happy to report that beer cans have not hit the ice.

Chris Peters, NHL writer: First, I had to make sure that I was not hallucinating. After that, I'll probably find out that Holtby, with some restored confidence after four consecutive victories against the Columbus Blue Jackets, was at the top of his game. His .932 career save percentage in the postseason did not necessarily help tone against Pittsburgh in previous years, but this time it's enough, especially if the number of goalkeeper penguins Matt Murray continued to plunge.

The capitals would need big performances from their players in depth to support the expected products from their best guys such as Ovechkin, Niklas Backstrom, Eugene Kuznetsov and John Carlson, who were so strong against Columbus and continued to threaten Pittsburgh. Caps received little help from deep-down guys like Stevenson and Jay Beagle, among others, against Columbus. They will need even more against the pens. It is expected that the top lines will carry their respective commands, but the depth can provide separation. And you know what? I think that there is a decent probability that this happens in real life.

Sachin Chandan, ESPN Journal researcher: Three things had to happen. First, the Capitals won a high chance of winning. They are already strong, as they lead all the playoff teams with 66 high-risk chances with high danger, for every natural trick. Secondly, Holtby was clearly a star, but he needed protection in front of him to help him. This year, Holtby was more susceptible to shots from the center of the zone, and he would need his upper defensive pairs, Michal Kempni-Carlson and Dmitry Orlov-Matt Niskanen, to close these vulnerable strips. Three, they continued their success in the power game, not taking penalties. Washington leads all the teams with a 33.3 percent stake on the power game, having the most chances and not imposing penalties. It was a struggle, but everything is possible.

Penguins To Face Washington Capitals In Round 2 Of Playoffs

For the third consecutive postseason it will be the Washington capitals and the Pittsburgh penguins in the semifinals of the capital division.

"Here we go," - said the center Nicklas Backstrom after the "Capitals" liquidated the "Columbus Blue Jackets" in victory 6-3 in Game 6 on Monday evening. Penguins also won in six games, destroying the Philadelphia flyers on Sunday.

Backstrom was asked whether the Capitals enter this autopsy as an outsider, despite winning the Metro division.

"Yes, but it does not really matter if we are outsiders or not," he said. "They won the Stanley Cup two years in a row. Good for them. We will play in the second round against them. It will be fun".

In 2009, the penguins won an epic series of seven games, in which the famous game 2 was presented, in which Alex Ovechkin and Crosby played tricks. The penguins captured game 7 in D.C., 6-2. In 2016, penguins replaced Capital in six games after losing the game 1 on the road in overtime. In 2017, rivals again went to seven games, and the winner of the "Penguins" won the game 7 in Washington with a score of 2: 0.

For this edition of the post-season rivalry, the capitals will again have their home ice. They will have Ovechkin and Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov and goalkeeper Braden Holtby, as in the last two playoffs. This leads to an obvious question: how can this be otherwise for capitals, when so many seem strangely familiar?

"We knew that the chances were that we would need to go through them at some point. We were well prepared. We used a year to improve our team, "said Holtby, who was impressive in creating 35 saves in Game 6.

Winger T.J. Oshima believes that Holtby is locked up, and the defense improved before him, this time the result may be different.

"Defensively, we understand better the correct reading a little. Defensively, we are a bit more responsible. I think that in previous years our line was rather complicated. It seemed like we somehow left with good players reading, but at times Pittsburgh can use it when you're not sharp at your own end, with how they see the ice. I think that we are a little more responsible at our own end, and I hope this can deter their crime, "said Oshi,

Over the past two seasons, Washington and Pittsburgh were set to collide in the second round due to the NHL playoffs format, what Captain coach Barry Trotz complained about in the NHL National game earlier this season.

"I think the format worked well and I'm not going to go against the league, but when you win the Presidents Trophy, you will not need to play the second [best] team in the second round," Trotz said.

If the Stanley Cup playoffs were replaced after the first round, the penguins (100 points) faced Tempa Bay Lightning (113 points), and in Capital (105 points) would face the winner of the Boston Bruins (112 points) and Toronto Maple leaves (105 points).

But this is not a format. Bracket says it's "Capitals against penguins," again. And Ovechkin said he was ready.

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HELLO EVERY ONE, I'M COMMING!

2018 NHL PLAYOFFS, Guentzel, Penguins advance to second round!