Bryan Rust fueled the flames of the Capitals-Penguins rivalry on Wednesday even though both teams have been on summer break for more than a month.
The Pittsburgh Penguins winger was a guest on popular gaming streamer Ninja’s live stream and proclaimed his belief that, unlike the Capitals, not only would the Penguins have won at least one game against the New York Rangers in the playoffs this year, but they would also have eliminated. them in a first round series.
Pittsburgh missed the playoffs for the second straight season after Washington clinched a postseason berth in its final game against the Philadelphia Flyers. The Capitals lost in four games to the Rangers in the first round and New York has since moved on to the Eastern Conference finals.
“I think we would have beaten the Rangers,” Rust told Ninja. “Oh yeah. It would have depended on a couple of factors but I think we would have beaten them. I think it’s a matchup thing. If you look across the league, there are just teams you do well against and teams you don’t.” “I feel like the Rangers would have been good for us if we could have figured out our penalties and our power play was absolute garbage all year.”
New York went 2-1 against Pittsburgh last regular season, but lost to the Penguins 5-2 at home in early April. The two teams have recently met in the playoffs, with the Rangers eliminating the Penguins in seven games during the first round of 2022.
Rust’s comments about his team’s special teams units are accurate, as Pittsburgh finished with the 30th-ranked power play in the league. Former Capitals head coach Todd Reirden led Pittsburgh’s power play until his poor performance, which resulted in his dismissal from the club in early May.
Special teams were a big factor in the Capitals-Rangers series, as the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Rangers were heavily outscored by the bottom-ranked Capitals five-on-five.
In the four five-on-five games, the Capitals had 52.4 percent of expected goals, 54.9 percent of scoring opportunities and 56.5 percent of high-danger opportunities. New York only outscored Washington 7-5 at even strength, but was helped by a power play that scored five times and a penalty kill that scored two shorthanded goals and allowed just two Capitals goals.
The Rangers also eliminated the Carolina Hurricanes and are now stuck at two wins apiece in their conference finals matchup against the Florida Panthers. New York’s five-on-five game hasn’t improved as the postseason progresses. Through 14 games, they have seen just 44 percent of shot attempts, 45.4 percent of expected goals, 43.4 percent of scoring opportunities and 42 percent of high danger.
MoneyPuck has Igor Shesterkin, the team’s goalkeeper, stopping over 10 more goals than expected in those 14 games. Only Jeremy Swayman of the Boston Bruins (13.3) ranks higher than Shesterkin.
So while Rust’s claim 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 didn’t. Pittsburgh shouldn’t have lost to Washington twice during the regular season if it wanted the chance. One of those defeats came in an embarrassing 6-0 defeat in early March.
To make matters worse for the Penguins, they won’t be picking in the first round of the upcoming Draft due to some aggressive trades and results in this year’s playoffs. The Hurricanes did not reach 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 first-round pick belongs to San Jose through the deal that brought Erik Karlsson to the Penguins. Otherwise, they would have been destined to pick 14th overall in the first round.
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