Matt Dumba will play on the Penguins' third pair tonight, with Connor Clifton being the odd man out on defense for the second game in a row.
The two have mostly split time on that third pair for the last month or so -- this will be Dumba's eighth game, tying Clifton for games played this season. I asked Dan Muse after Wednesday's morning skate how it's decided when they make that change -- is it based on the last game? Do they take the opponent into consideration?
"There's a lot of factors that we're always going to be looking at," he explained. "The last game is definitely one of them. The guys have been out for a little while, and we're looking at practices and looking to just feel if maybe making a change there can be beneficial there for our lineup. But then we're also evaluating based off of the last game. With Dumba's case right now, he's going to be in tonight, and I think that is based off of the last game."
Dumba played 13:28 in the Penguins' loss to the Kraken with one shot on three attempts, three hits, one block and one drawn penalty. At five-on-five, the Penguins controlled 43.33% of the shot attempts with Dumba on the ice, the lowest share of all their defensemen in the game, despite having the highest share of offensive zone faceoffs at 80%
With Dumba and Clifton being right-handed, right-handed Harrison Brunicke in the AHL on a conditioning stint, and Ryan Graves being left-handed, any potential swap would be between Clifton and Dumba. Both could play on their off side, but it would be less than ideal.
It's a small sample size, but Graves has played five games with Clifton and two with Dumba since being recalled. And the results for either pair have been interesting:
SHOT ATTEMPTS
Graves-Clifton: 54.84%
Graves-Dumba: 31.25%
UNBLOCKED SHOT ATTEMPTS
Graves-Clifton: 62.50%
Graves-Dumba: 33.33%
SHOTS ON GOAL
Graves-Clifton: 62.75%
Graves-Dumba: 38.89%
EXPECTED GOALS
Graves-Clifton: 58.46%
Graves-Dumba: 38.97%
GOALS
Graves-Clifton: 66.67%
Graves-Dumba: 50%
In either case the deployment is similar. The Graves-Clifton pairing sees 41.46% of their faceoffs in the offensive zone, while the Graves-Dumba pairing sees 38.46% of their faceoffs in the offensive zone.
Again, it's a small sample size, and too early to declaring either combination good or bad. It'll be interesting to see if the trends so far hold up.
THE ASYLUM
Analysis: Dumba vs. Clifton?
Matt Dumba will play on the Penguins' third pair tonight, with Connor Clifton being the odd man out on defense for the second game in a row.
The two have mostly split time on that third pair for the last month or so -- this will be Dumba's eighth game, tying Clifton for games played this season. I asked Dan Muse after Wednesday's morning skate how it's decided when they make that change -- is it based on the last game? Do they take the opponent into consideration?
"There's a lot of factors that we're always going to be looking at," he explained. "The last game is definitely one of them. The guys have been out for a little while, and we're looking at practices and looking to just feel if maybe making a change there can be beneficial there for our lineup. But then we're also evaluating based off of the last game. With Dumba's case right now, he's going to be in tonight, and I think that is based off of the last game."
Dumba played 13:28 in the Penguins' loss to the Kraken with one shot on three attempts, three hits, one block and one drawn penalty. At five-on-five, the Penguins controlled 43.33% of the shot attempts with Dumba on the ice, the lowest share of all their defensemen in the game, despite having the highest share of offensive zone faceoffs at 80%
With Dumba and Clifton being right-handed, right-handed Harrison Brunicke in the AHL on a conditioning stint, and Ryan Graves being left-handed, any potential swap would be between Clifton and Dumba. Both could play on their off side, but it would be less than ideal.
It's a small sample size, but Graves has played five games with Clifton and two with Dumba since being recalled. And the results for either pair have been interesting:
SHOT ATTEMPTS
Graves-Clifton: 54.84%
Graves-Dumba: 31.25%
UNBLOCKED SHOT ATTEMPTS
Graves-Clifton: 62.50%
Graves-Dumba: 33.33%
SHOTS ON GOAL
Graves-Clifton: 62.75%
Graves-Dumba: 38.89%
EXPECTED GOALS
Graves-Clifton: 58.46%
Graves-Dumba: 38.97%
GOALS
Graves-Clifton: 66.67%
Graves-Dumba: 50%
In either case the deployment is similar. The Graves-Clifton pairing sees 41.46% of their faceoffs in the offensive zone, while the Graves-Dumba pairing sees 38.46% of their faceoffs in the offensive zone.
Again, it's a small sample size, and too early to declaring either combination good or bad. It'll be interesting to see if the trends so far hold up.
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