We have two games on the schedule tonight with a potential turning of the tides in each series. Let’s take a look at tonight’s NHL playoff predictions.
| Capitals vs Penguins ML -125 / +105 O/U 5 |
Ducks vs Oilers ML +100 / -120 O/U 5.5 |
Here are tonight’s starting goaltenders, courtesy of LeftWingLock.
Capitals vs Penguins: Sidney Crosby will sit out Game 4 with a concussion. Given Sid’s history of concussions, he may be out for a while. This is obviously horrendous news for the Pittsburgh Penguins, who benefitted from Crosby’s dominance in the form of four points through two games in this series.
Let’s get one thing very clear, though. This was not an intentional, malicious headshot. Crosby dragged the toe to try and get a shot off. Ovechkin, to break up the shot, slashes Crosby on the arm, and accidentally doinks him in the back of the head trying to get out of the way. Crosby drops down from the blow, and Matt Niskanen throws a cross-check that happens to land on Crosby’s head.
Sidney Crosby hurt after taking a Niskanen cross-check to the head pic.twitter.com/T8P3iGK1m8
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) May 1, 2017
Niskanen, like many NHL defensemen, throws cross-checks all the time. In fact, it has been Niskanen’s job all series to go at Crosby with hard hits and physicality, the kind of hits that NBC replays in their intermission and says “wow, what toughness.” But because of a freak snap-second incident, Niskanen winds up catching his head.
It was not intentional. It could not possibly have been intentional. Yes, Washington has been trying to body up Sid all series but he’s just too slippery. But it was a hard hit gone wrong, as they do in hockey. That it was a rival team does not make it intentional. That it was a playoff game does not make it intentional.
Put down your Rob Rossi article and accept that it was an unfortunate play and that Matt Niskanen is not Dale Hunter. Stuff happens. Stop talking about Adam Graves already.
Conor Sheary was also concussed in Game 3 after a collision with teammate Patric Hornqvist (but was it intentional so that Hornqvist could get more minutes???).
Pittsburgh still has reason to be confident. Even without two-thirds of their top line, they managed to even up the score when down 2-0 with 1:53 remaining in the game. Evgeni Malkin and Justin Schultz buried one-timers to send the game to overtime.
Kevin Shattenkirk had a nice redemption moment, scoring the overtime winner. Shattenkirk had a rough game in Game 2, so this goal could be a nice confidence boost. He is an elite defenseman, so a moment like that really could help his game going forward.
Without Crosby in the lineup, the Capitals are considered to be the favorites in this game. This is fair. Remove the best player in the world from any lineup and your odds take a significant hit. Pittsburgh’s advantage down the middle is essentially gone. But let’s not act like they have no weapons left. It simply means that Evgeni Malkin is now “The Man.” It also means that the Penguins will need more ice time out of Carl Hagelin and Chris Kunitz. Bryan Rust will get more playing time as well.
Heck, even the mayor of Pittsburgh is tweeting out line combinations.
Who do you go with tomorrow?
LW-C-RW
Guentzel-Malkin-Kessel
Hagelin-Bonino-Hornqvist
Kunitz-Cullen-Rust
Wilson-Rowney-Kuhnackl
Your lineup?— bill peduto (@billpeduto) May 3, 2017
My prediction of the Penguins being perfect on home ice didn’t pan out. I will want to capitalize on the Pens being home underdogs now, though. Crosby or no Crosby, the Penguins will want revenge. And the best way to do that is on the scoreboard.
Prediction: Take the Pittsburgh Penguins to win. Play the over.
Ducks vs Oilers: Anaheim needed a strong response after dropping both home games in the series. They found it 25 seconds into play. After winning a defensive zone draw, winger Andrew Cogliano immediately broke to the bench. Coming over the boards at the red line was Rickard Rakell. Ryan Getzlaf hit Rakell in stride with a tremendous stretch pass and Rakell had a breakaway. Rakell buried a wrist shot over the glove of Talbot. What a sneaky play.
Jakob Silfverberg and Ryan Getzlaf would score in the first with Patrick Maroon getting the Oilers on the board before period’s end.
Edmonton fought back hard in the second period. Anton Slepyshev got credit for a freakish bounce as a Desharnais pass hit off his skate, off the hand of Shea Theodore, off the back shoulder of John Gibson and over the goalline. Connor McDavid evened up the score with a great takeaway, spin move and snipe.
McDavid with another jaw-dropping goal pic.twitter.com/sM6LE4moOl
— Brandon ⚡️ (@13Hockeytown40) May 1, 2017
Sami Vatanen was playing in his first game back from injury and got a rude introduction courtesy of the game’s only triple-digit scorer.
Chris Wagner would get one back less than a minute later and the Ducks would not look back. They would go on to win 6-3 in Oil Country.
Vatanen was fine in his first game back. Whenever someone returns from injury, especially in the playoffs when things seem to move a lot quicker, it’s fair to give someone an adjustment period. Vatanen played over 18 minutes and got a good amount of time at all three strengths. He will be fine, but a shake-and-bake moment like McDavid’s goal probably shows him how much he needs to ramp up his play to be at 100%.
Penalties killed any hopes of an Oilers comeback. Trailing 4-3 heading into the third, the Oilers were struggling to get shots to the net. Anaheim took advantage and tallied two more by the midway point in the period. Rather than try and chip away at the lead, Edmonton was called for three penalties in the final 10 minutes.
The Ducks have now won their last four road games. The extra day of rest between Games 3 and 4 could be a factor as well. While it gives Edmonton a chance to lick their wounds, the Oilers are just 1-5 in their last six playing on two days of rest.
Like any other game in this series, expect scoring. And a lot of it. The Oilers will come roaring back. If they make the Ducks pay when they hand out early powerplay opportunities, the Oilers will come away the victors. The worst thing to do with this Ducks team is let them hang around.
Prediction: Take the Oilers to win tonight. Play the over.
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