The Capitals need to find a way to stop Suzuki and the Canadiens' top line
Photo credit: Montreal Gazette
The Montreal Canadiens' top trio of Juraj Slafkovsky, Nick Suzuki , and Cole Caufield found the back of the net twice during five-on-five action against the Capitals in Game 3 on Friday night.
Nick Suzuki and the Canadiens' top line were all over Washington in their huge 6-3 win over the Capitals in Game 3 on Friday night in Montreal.
Peter Hassett from RMNB writes that in the first two games, with Washington having the last change, head coach Spencer Carbery matched his second line of Connor McMichael, Pierre-Luc Dubois, and Tom Wilson against the Suzuki line for 23 of Suzuki's 34 minutes, with decent success.
But on Friday night, that matchup shrank to just two minutes and ten seconds. Without the ability to shield his top line, Carbery saw Martin St. Louis take full advantage.
"Against the top line, the Habs ate. They scored two goals to Washington's one, outshot them 19 attempts to six, and generated 1.3 expected goals to the Caps' 0.4. Both Habs goals stung, but the Caufield one grated especially." -Hassett
Coach Carbery's troops simply couldn't find a way to stop the Habs' top trio.
The Habs will once again have last change on Sunday night in Game 4, but Carbery has ways to limit the Suzuki line's impact. Most importantly, he should stress safer defensive-zone plays, using the boards instead of risking easy turnovers through the middle.
"He should keep shifts short to rotate out weaker defensive combinations against Suzuki. And he should change his top line's personnel to limit their defensive weakness." -Hassett
We'll see how Carbery responds in Game 4 but the Capitals will have to be a lot better in order to avoid another blowout.
Puck drop is set for 6:30pm on Sunday night from the Bell Centre in Montreal.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 26 | 97 ANSWERS The Capitals need to find a way to stop Suzuki and the Canadiens' top line Will the Capitals bounce back and win Game 4? | ||
| yes | 66 | 68 % |
| no | 31 | 32 % |
| List of polls | ||
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