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Napsal: pon 03. zář 2018 1:22:06WASHINGTON — The Washington Capitals and Columbus Blue Jackets are rolling into Game 1 of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series with goaltenders who are question marks for different reasons.
For Columbus (45-30-7 Justin Blackmon Jersey , first Eastern Conference wild card), Sergei Bobrovsky has been one of the league’s top goaltenders but has not carried that success into the postseason.
Washington’s Philipp Grubauer, who got the nod from coach Barry Trotz for Game 1 over Braden Holtby, has just 79 minutes of playoff experience on his resume.
“I just think (Grubauer) deserves the opportunity,” Trotz told thesportscapital.com of going with Grubauer in Game 1. “Trust me, it wasn’t an easy decision.”
Grubauer, who stepped in when Holtby was given a “reset” after slumping in February and March, finished with a .923 save percentage and a 2.35 goals-against average. Trotz rotated the pair down the stretch, but Grubauer started 10 of the final 17 games.
“It’s a privilege to start, for sure,” Grubauer told the Washington Post. “You treat it as Game 1 (of the regular season) or Game 82. It’s not going to change any of my approach.”
Trotz said he will go game-by-game in his goaltending decisions.
“It’s a coach’s decision who plays or not,” Holtby told the Post. “It doesn’t have anything to do with me. So Prince Amukamara Jersey , I just focus on one practice at a time and try to be a positive influence on the team and go from there.”
Grubauer is 0-1-1 in three games with a 2.48 GAA and .915 save percentage against the Blue Jackets. Holtby is 14-4-2 with a 2.62 GAA and .914 save percentage.
Bobrovsky was 37-22-6 in the regular season with 2.42 GAA and a .921 save percentage.
In the playoffs, he is 3-10 with a 3.63 GAA and .887 save percentage.
This is the first playoff meeting between the teams, but in his career versus Washington, Bobrovsky is 7-10-4 with a 3.02 GAA and .900 save percentage.
“We have full confidence in his abilities,” Columbus captain Nick Foligno to the team’s website regarding Bobrovsky. “If I had to pick anybody in the league to go to the playoffs with, it would be him. And I think he’s pretty confident about the team in front of him as well.”
Washington took three of four from Columbus this season, but the Blue Jackets won the last meeting 5-1 on Feb. 26. Holtby was in goal for all four games.
The Capitals didn’t win their third straight Presidents’ Trophy but they beat expectations. Despite losing a chunk of its offense, Washington again won the Metropolitan Division and closed the season 8-2-0.
Alex Ovechkin rebounded from last season’s 33-goal effort to lead the NHL with 49. Evgeny Kuznetsov totaled 11 goals and 17 assists in the final 18 games, and defenseman John Carlson led all blue-liners with 68 points.
Columbus led the NHL in scoring over its final 28 games with 101 goals and finished on a 10-2-2 streak.
Artemi Panarin led the Blue Jackets with 27 goals and 82 points. Cam Atkinson has 24 goals, including 11 in the final 11 games.
Top defensive pair Seth Jones and Zach Werenski each scored 16 goals, tying the franchise record for most goals by a defenseman in one season.
Washington has the edge in special teams, with the league’s seventh-ranked power play (22.5 percent success rate) and 15th-rated penalty kill (80.3 percent).
Columbus is 25th on the power pay (17.2 percent) and 26th on the penalty kill (76.2 percent).
“It’s been inconsistent this year Ryan Kalil Jersey ,” Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella told the team’s website regarding the penalty kill. “I’m not going to hide from that. You get into playoffs, just try to wipe the slate clean and get about your business here. We can focus in on their tendencies. That’s a big part of the series.
“Hopefully, we’re smart enough that we keep control of ourselves, our emotions, we’re a disciplined team and not sitting in that box a whole bunch in this series.”
By now, the Boston Celtics have come to expect adversity.
They were barely five minutes into the season when Gordon Hayward’s gruesome ankle injury offered the first collective gasp in what would be an 82-game schedule replete with more head-shaking moments.
The most recent setback, season-ending knee surgery for Kyrie Irving, left teams in the East almost hoping for a chance to face the wounded Celtics in the first round of the playoffs.
Boston enters as the No. 2 seed. But it is certainly vulnerable opposite a seventh-seeded Bucks team with which it split four games this season. Milwaukee is led by one of the league’s budding young talents in 23-year-old Giannis Antetokounmpo.
If there is a silver lining for the Celtics it’s that they went 14-8 without Irving for the last 22 games.
”It’s forcing our group to grow up quicker than maybe some of our guys were supposed to,” forward Al Horford said. ”I think that this is a great opportunity that we have in front of us. We’ve really worked hard all year to put ourselves in this position.”
Antetokounmpo is entering his third postseason and already has turned into a marquee player. He averaged 33.5 points this season against the Celtics, more than any player. His next step is to lead the Bucks to a victory in a playoff series.
”Right now, (the) playoffs is not about stats. It’s all about winning,” Antetokounmpo said. ”It’s going to be a long road. We’re going to try to go to the end.”
Trying to slow him must be a team effort Wes Horton Jersey , Celtics coach Brad Stevens said.
”We’ll have to guard him with everybody on our team,” he said. ”It’s not on one person to guard Giannis. We have to throw a lot of different bodies at him.”
Some things to watch in Bucks vs. Celtics:
MANAGING EXPECTATIONS
Injuries aside, Bucks guard Malcolm Brogdon expects Boston to be tough.
”It’s another level, I think we all know that,” Brogdon said. ”I think we gotta not be distracted by all the outside noise, by what people expect us to do or what another team is lacking. I think we have to go in and we have to play our game.”
FILLING IRVING’S SHOES
With Irving out, the Celtics will look to key their offense with third-year guard Terry Rozier. He’s played the best ball of his career this season, appearing in 80 games (16 starts) and averaging career highs in points (11.3), rebounds (4.7) and assists (2.9).
”I got to control the game, basically just filling what a point guard is supposed to do – filling Kyrie’s shoes as much as I can,” he said. ”Sometimes it might mean taking tough shots and making tough shots. … Do what I can to give this team and boost and put us in position to win.”
FIRST DEFENSE
The Bucks are stocked with talent. But consistent defense has been a problem. At times, they’ve been blown out in the first quarter Jadeveon Clowney Jersey , forcing them to expend more effort to get back into the game. At worst, it turns into an outcome like the one that played out in the regular-season finale at Philadelphia, which turned into a lopsided lead for the streaking 76ers by halftime. Antetokounmpo said the team has lacked focus at times. They can’t make that mistake against the Celtics.
”I think understanding the tendencies, understanding your roles, understanding assignments, all of those things become paramount because each possession is important,” Bucks coach Joe Prunty said.
NEW GUYS
The Bucks basically have the same core back from the team that lost in the first round to Toronto last season. They add two key pieces to the mix in point guard Eric Bledsoe and forward Jabari Parker. Both players are proven scorers. Bledsoe played well down the stretch, when his 3-point shooting picked up. Parker looks back at full strength after missing the first three-plus months rehabbing the second knee injury of his career.
—
AP Sports Writer Genaro Armas in Milwaukee contributed to this report.
—
More NBA basketball: Donte DiVincenzo Jersey ,
For Columbus (45-30-7 Justin Blackmon Jersey , first Eastern Conference wild card), Sergei Bobrovsky has been one of the league’s top goaltenders but has not carried that success into the postseason.
Washington’s Philipp Grubauer, who got the nod from coach Barry Trotz for Game 1 over Braden Holtby, has just 79 minutes of playoff experience on his resume.
“I just think (Grubauer) deserves the opportunity,” Trotz told thesportscapital.com of going with Grubauer in Game 1. “Trust me, it wasn’t an easy decision.”
Grubauer, who stepped in when Holtby was given a “reset” after slumping in February and March, finished with a .923 save percentage and a 2.35 goals-against average. Trotz rotated the pair down the stretch, but Grubauer started 10 of the final 17 games.
“It’s a privilege to start, for sure,” Grubauer told the Washington Post. “You treat it as Game 1 (of the regular season) or Game 82. It’s not going to change any of my approach.”
Trotz said he will go game-by-game in his goaltending decisions.
“It’s a coach’s decision who plays or not,” Holtby told the Post. “It doesn’t have anything to do with me. So Prince Amukamara Jersey , I just focus on one practice at a time and try to be a positive influence on the team and go from there.”
Grubauer is 0-1-1 in three games with a 2.48 GAA and .915 save percentage against the Blue Jackets. Holtby is 14-4-2 with a 2.62 GAA and .914 save percentage.
Bobrovsky was 37-22-6 in the regular season with 2.42 GAA and a .921 save percentage.
In the playoffs, he is 3-10 with a 3.63 GAA and .887 save percentage.
This is the first playoff meeting between the teams, but in his career versus Washington, Bobrovsky is 7-10-4 with a 3.02 GAA and .900 save percentage.
“We have full confidence in his abilities,” Columbus captain Nick Foligno to the team’s website regarding Bobrovsky. “If I had to pick anybody in the league to go to the playoffs with, it would be him. And I think he’s pretty confident about the team in front of him as well.”
Washington took three of four from Columbus this season, but the Blue Jackets won the last meeting 5-1 on Feb. 26. Holtby was in goal for all four games.
The Capitals didn’t win their third straight Presidents’ Trophy but they beat expectations. Despite losing a chunk of its offense, Washington again won the Metropolitan Division and closed the season 8-2-0.
Alex Ovechkin rebounded from last season’s 33-goal effort to lead the NHL with 49. Evgeny Kuznetsov totaled 11 goals and 17 assists in the final 18 games, and defenseman John Carlson led all blue-liners with 68 points.
Columbus led the NHL in scoring over its final 28 games with 101 goals and finished on a 10-2-2 streak.
Artemi Panarin led the Blue Jackets with 27 goals and 82 points. Cam Atkinson has 24 goals, including 11 in the final 11 games.
Top defensive pair Seth Jones and Zach Werenski each scored 16 goals, tying the franchise record for most goals by a defenseman in one season.
Washington has the edge in special teams, with the league’s seventh-ranked power play (22.5 percent success rate) and 15th-rated penalty kill (80.3 percent).
Columbus is 25th on the power pay (17.2 percent) and 26th on the penalty kill (76.2 percent).
“It’s been inconsistent this year Ryan Kalil Jersey ,” Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella told the team’s website regarding the penalty kill. “I’m not going to hide from that. You get into playoffs, just try to wipe the slate clean and get about your business here. We can focus in on their tendencies. That’s a big part of the series.
“Hopefully, we’re smart enough that we keep control of ourselves, our emotions, we’re a disciplined team and not sitting in that box a whole bunch in this series.”
By now, the Boston Celtics have come to expect adversity.
They were barely five minutes into the season when Gordon Hayward’s gruesome ankle injury offered the first collective gasp in what would be an 82-game schedule replete with more head-shaking moments.
The most recent setback, season-ending knee surgery for Kyrie Irving, left teams in the East almost hoping for a chance to face the wounded Celtics in the first round of the playoffs.
Boston enters as the No. 2 seed. But it is certainly vulnerable opposite a seventh-seeded Bucks team with which it split four games this season. Milwaukee is led by one of the league’s budding young talents in 23-year-old Giannis Antetokounmpo.
If there is a silver lining for the Celtics it’s that they went 14-8 without Irving for the last 22 games.
”It’s forcing our group to grow up quicker than maybe some of our guys were supposed to,” forward Al Horford said. ”I think that this is a great opportunity that we have in front of us. We’ve really worked hard all year to put ourselves in this position.”
Antetokounmpo is entering his third postseason and already has turned into a marquee player. He averaged 33.5 points this season against the Celtics, more than any player. His next step is to lead the Bucks to a victory in a playoff series.
”Right now, (the) playoffs is not about stats. It’s all about winning,” Antetokounmpo said. ”It’s going to be a long road. We’re going to try to go to the end.”
Trying to slow him must be a team effort Wes Horton Jersey , Celtics coach Brad Stevens said.
”We’ll have to guard him with everybody on our team,” he said. ”It’s not on one person to guard Giannis. We have to throw a lot of different bodies at him.”
Some things to watch in Bucks vs. Celtics:
MANAGING EXPECTATIONS
Injuries aside, Bucks guard Malcolm Brogdon expects Boston to be tough.
”It’s another level, I think we all know that,” Brogdon said. ”I think we gotta not be distracted by all the outside noise, by what people expect us to do or what another team is lacking. I think we have to go in and we have to play our game.”
FILLING IRVING’S SHOES
With Irving out, the Celtics will look to key their offense with third-year guard Terry Rozier. He’s played the best ball of his career this season, appearing in 80 games (16 starts) and averaging career highs in points (11.3), rebounds (4.7) and assists (2.9).
”I got to control the game, basically just filling what a point guard is supposed to do – filling Kyrie’s shoes as much as I can,” he said. ”Sometimes it might mean taking tough shots and making tough shots. … Do what I can to give this team and boost and put us in position to win.”
FIRST DEFENSE
The Bucks are stocked with talent. But consistent defense has been a problem. At times, they’ve been blown out in the first quarter Jadeveon Clowney Jersey , forcing them to expend more effort to get back into the game. At worst, it turns into an outcome like the one that played out in the regular-season finale at Philadelphia, which turned into a lopsided lead for the streaking 76ers by halftime. Antetokounmpo said the team has lacked focus at times. They can’t make that mistake against the Celtics.
”I think understanding the tendencies, understanding your roles, understanding assignments, all of those things become paramount because each possession is important,” Bucks coach Joe Prunty said.
NEW GUYS
The Bucks basically have the same core back from the team that lost in the first round to Toronto last season. They add two key pieces to the mix in point guard Eric Bledsoe and forward Jabari Parker. Both players are proven scorers. Bledsoe played well down the stretch, when his 3-point shooting picked up. Parker looks back at full strength after missing the first three-plus months rehabbing the second knee injury of his career.
—
AP Sports Writer Genaro Armas in Milwaukee contributed to this report.
—
More NBA basketball: Donte DiVincenzo Jersey ,