Caps looking to slow down Panthers’ stellar offense originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
A clean-shaven Evgeny Kuznetsov stepped to the interview podium Monday at MedStar Capital Iceplex and was, as he is to be, jovial.
He was quick-witted, full of laughter, and right from the first question of his press conference, full of humor.
He was asked about the upcoming series with the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Panthers and what it’d take to win the series. Kuznetsov’s answer was, to be fair, true.
“Score more goals,” he said, cracking up at his answer.
But while he’s not wrong, the job is far easier said than done — especially if the Capitals’ goal is to outscore the league’s top-scoring team.
The Panthers scored more goals (337) than any team in the league. It was the first time since the 1995-96 season that a team averaged more than four goals per game.
They were led by their 115-point winger, Jonathan Huberdeau, as four players on the Panthers scored 30 goals or more. Those four, per their lines at morning skate Monday, are spread across three different lines. Fourteen players scored at least 10 goals for the Panthers. Each line has at least one double-digit goal-scorer.
“I think the key is playing in the o-zone, smart puck decisions, really just not get turnovers,” winger T.J. Oshie said. “They are obviously an offensive team, they know how to create offense so we just got to be hard defensively and not give them any free offense, not turn over unnecessary pucks and kind of feed onto their transition.”
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Their success hasn’t just come by way of a stellar power play or a handful of players carrying the load. Per Natural Stat Trick, the Panthers led the league with 218 five-on-five goals — 10 goals more than the second-place Leafs.
Florida’s five-on-five goals were the most since Natural Stat Trick began tracking five-on-five stats in the 2007-2008 season. Just four teams (the 2009-10…