WASHINGTON -- The hit totals in Thursday's game between the Penguins and Capitals were a bit lopsided in the Capitals' favor.
Through the first 40 minutes, the Capitals were recorded as outhitting the Penguins by a 22-2 margin, with Bryan Rust and Jared McCann being the only two players to record hits for the Penguins. The Penguins outhit the Capitals for the remainder of the game 12-10, for a final hit total of 32-14, Capitals.
It's always worth pointing out that the hit statistic is flawed. Real humans are tracking these things up in the press box in real-time, and different off-ice officials in different buildings don't always count hits the same. What gets recorded as a hit in one building might not get recorded as a hit in another building. Within that, there's often bias toward the home team in recording these live stats.
Still, you don't need to look at the hit counts to figure out that Thursday's game was a physical one, and at least when it came to hits, the Penguins were often on the receiving end. That doesn't mean that it's a cause for concern entering Saturday's game.
"That's obviously one of their strengths," Mike Matheson said Friday of the Capitals' physical play. "I think our strength is speed. Do I think that we can bring a little more tenacity in our game? Sometimes, yeah. I think that's an area that we're constantly working on and trying to get better at. I think on the other hand, if we worry too much about that we start playing a game that isn't playing into our strengths. I think we do a great job of sticking up for each other when the time comes and sticking together and making sure we don't get pushed around. But at the end of the day our game isn't to go around and try to bruise the other team up. Our strengths are playing fast, making them take penalties against us, then making them pay when we go on the power play."
I asked Mike Sullivan after Friday's practice if he was satisfied with the level of physicality his team brought in that game, and if it's something he'd like to see increase for Saturday's game.
"What I will tell you is there's different ways to define physicality," Sullivan said. "That's something that we talk about with our team a lot. There's finishing checks, that's one element of physicality. But it's also about winning puck battles and wall play and net-front battles and things of that nature. Physicality can take on a lot of different forms. When we look at our group, I think we try to define physicality a different way. We're trying to play to our strengths. I think when we look at our team, there's always ways to improve and get better and bring more elements of physicality into your game. It's an essential part of winning. So that's something that we try to push our guys to be better at each and every night. I don't think it's any different than (Thursday). Could we bring another element of physicality to our game? Sure we can. But it manifests itself in a lot of different ways, it's not just about a bodycheck."
