Trailing 3-1 in the series, Capitals head coach Barry Trotz opted to make a bold lineup shuffle. He demoted seven-time 50-goal scorer Alex Ovechkin to the third line and promoted Andre Burakovsky, who scored just 12 regular-season goals, to the top line.
This move drew heavy skepticism from the media. However, two games with the new lineup has Trotz looking like an absolute genius.
Here is a look at Burakovsky's playoff stats before and after the switch:
Line | GP | G | A | SOG |
---|---|---|---|---|
3rd line | 10 | 0 | 2 | 19 |
1st line | 2 | 3 | 1 | 7 |
Ovechkin's transformation hasn't been as dramatic. He scored the key fourth goal in a 4-2 win in Game 5, though he was held off the scoresheet in Game 6. He has been getting more scoring chances though.
Ovechkin was getting 1.06 individual scoring chances for per 60 minutes (iSCF60) at 5v5 from Games 1-4, but since being demoted to the third line, he is getting 7.45 iSCF60, according to Corsica.Hockey via Neil Greenberg from The Washington Post
Part of the reason why he's getting more scoring chances, despite playing alongside less talented players, is the fact that he doesn't have to face Pittsburgh's shutdown D pairing of Brian Dumoulin and Ron Hainsey every shift.
Trotz's hope with this move was to "spread out the offense," and so far it has worked brilliantly. His club has scored the same amount of goals in the last two games than they scored in the first four games.
Having a savvy, veteran coach, unafraid to make a bold move, is truly paying dividends for the Capitals.
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