WASHINGTON -- Look, we can pretend.
We can pontificate about how the officiating from Game 1 of this Stanley Cup playoff series should have no bearing on Game 2 tonight, how the Penguins shouldn't expect the Capitals to have some parade of power plays just because they had none Thursday, how all of Barry Trotz's complaints on that count -- "I thought we had a chance to have at least one," he fumed -- won't matter, and how the officials will skate onto the ice with a clean slate.
But this is the NHL.
This is the league where, after the Capitals twice had seven skaters on the ice, no penalty was called but one of the linesmen later skated by the Washington bench and snapped out, "Cleaner changes, Barry! Please!" That was caught on league-produced audio.
This is the league where, early in the game, one of the referees informed one of the Penguins before a faceoff, "We're not going to call a whole lot." Because ... because ... wow.
This is the league where, because the Capitals were issued two misguided minors by the referees -- Alexander Ovechkin's soft shove on Patric Hornqvist and Matt Niskanen being called for a slash when he was chopping at a visibly loose puck in front of Marc-Andre Fleury -- that's somehow supposed to mean they're due for a couple of gifts in the next game.
Seriously, though, those two calls were awful:
Just as seriously, there shouldn't be a carryover.
Yet there will. And all concerned are fully aware of it.
"It’s not like we don’t expect to take a penalty all series long," Ian Cole was saying after the Penguins' optional skate Saturday morning.
“We can’t exactly expect to not be short-handed tonight. We kind of know that going in," Conor Sheary said. "But we still need to be disciplined and to be smart out there. We don’t want their power play getting too many looks.”
That seems like a good idea. The Capitals are 5 for 17 on the power play in these playoffs, precisely the same as the Penguins. In the regular season, they succeeded at a 23.1 percent clip, ranking third in the league, precisely the same as the Penguins. So whatever anyone thinks of the Penguins with the extra man, the Capitals are all that, as well.
They do look a little different than in years past, though, and that's largely because they're no longer excessively reliant on Ovechkin's trademark boomer from the left circle.
Nicklas Backstrom sets up along the right half-wall and is the quarterback in every way. He'll look to drop to deadline acquisition Kevin Shattenkirk at the right point for a one-timer, to feed T.J. Oshie in the low slot, to find roving wild card Marcus Johansson wherever or, most dangerously, split the box to find Ovechkin.
It all starts there.
"It can end there, too," Olli Maatta amended when I brought this up. "Backstrom can shoot the puck, too. That's a big part of what makes them hard to defend. You have to respect his shot."
I asked Mike Sullivan about the Capitals' newfound diversity on the power play:
“Sure, we have a great power play," Tom Kuhnhackl said. "But I feel like we’re at our best when we’re rolling four lines. If they aren’t going to call much, we’re OK with that.”
Faceoff is at 8:15 p.m. The first penalty ... eh, probably 8:16 p.m.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
