Capitals vs. Maple Leafs: Three Keys To Victory In Game 2

2. Third Line Battle

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Both of the Capitals and Maple Leafs got positive things from their respective third lines on Thursday. But Washington should be gravely concerned about Toronto’s third line. They dominated for most of the game and Mitch Marner was borderline unstoppable. Toronto’s third line is very hard to match up against.

They have a lot of skill and speed, which is typically not something you see from a third line. Toronto’s third line (centered by Tyler Bozak) saw primarily the fourth line and the wrong side won the battle. The Capitals need to match up better against this deadly line. And why not counter one of the best third lines in hockey with arguably the best?

Lars Eller, Andre Burakovsky and Brett Connolly averaged roughly 11 minutes of ice time in Game 1. This is baffling because they dominated the possession game. Connolly and Burakovsky each put up even strength Corsi For percentages of over 60 while Eller was just below that at 58.62 percent. Corsi isn’t everything, but when you’re dominating possession at those rates, you’re doing a darn good job of limiting shot attempts against and creating shot attempts for. Less shot attempts against means less chances for luck to rudely insert itself in the game.

The best way to defend speed is by matching it with speed. Barry Trotz needs to either give his third line more playing time against the Leafs third line or he needs to adopt a new strategy to guard them.