Each time Boston’s top line jumps over the boards
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Make a mistake and Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak will make you pay.
”You think it’s going all right and you’re playing well, and they only need one look,” Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh said. ”We knew that. That’s no surprise. They’re a good line.”
Top lines are lighting up opponents all over the playoffs, ratcheting scoring up to a pace not seen in more than two decades. Top trios from the Capitals, Golden Knights, Penguins, Jets and Predators are having their way against top opposing defensemen. Goals are supposed to be harder to come by in the playoffs, but after years of NHL rule changes to get goals, goals and more goals, that is exactly what’s happening.
”Every line, every group of forwards, give different challenges for defensemen,” Washington coach Barry Trotz said. ”It’s the types of reads and the tendencies of the group and as a series goes on there’s going to be more and more deception happening from a forward group to our group of defenders and vice versa. It’s the constant reads and the constant communication and the constant positioning that you have to have against really dynamic people who are good collectively or individually.”
Especially in the Stanley Cup playoffs
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A total of 341 goals were scored through the first 56 playoff games, the most at that point since 1996 (347). Elite goaltenders are putting on a show, yet top lines like Jake Guentzel, Sidney Crosby and Patric Hornqvist (Pittsburgh); Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Tom Wilson (Washington); Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler (Winnipeg); Jonathan Marchessault, William Karlsson and Reilly Smith (Vegas): and Filip Forsberg, Ryan Johansen and Viktor Arvidsson (Nashville) are taking advantage of their opportunities.
Top lines have been on the ice for 42 of the 78 goals scored through Tuesday in the second round, a showcase of skill that proves great offense is beating great defense. So many of the game’s best defensemen are now counted on as much for their offense as the play in their own end, yet even those tasked with stopping the stars haven’t been able to do it.
”We’ve got a game plan, but I don’t think we’ve completely executed it yet,” Sharks defenseman Brenden Dillon said of containing the Golden Knights’ top line. ”We’re kind of doing it in bits and pieces.”
The Penguins trail the Capitals 2-1 in their second-round series in part because they haven’t gotten much offense beyond Guentzel, Crosby and Hornqvist, plus the goals that top line is giving up to Ovechkin and Kuznetsov.
”They’re pretty aggressive
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That’s the risk-reward for elite defenders in the playoffs: knowing when to counterattack. It has worked some for the Bruins, who so far have limited the damage from Tampa Bay’s J.T. Miller, Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov and put up some goals against them.
Bruins defensemen Zdeno Chara and Charlie McAvoy corralled Auston Matthews and Toronto’s top offensive performers in the first round and continue to draw the toughest assignments against the Lightning.
”The guys on the ice, that’s their assignment for 15, 18 minutes, whatever they play at even strength that night,” Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said. ”There’s no magic formula about following them around or any particular structure other than Z and Charlie have done a good job of not getting caught up ice, giving them odd-man rushes for the most part.”
Pittsburgh’s biggest hole through three games defensively – outside of Matt Murray’s apparently vulnerable glove hand – has been defending the Capitals on the rush.
”They’re a very skilled team,” defensemen Justin Schultz said. ”You’ve got to have numbers back and keep your head on a swivel because they’re very talented.”
It’s not just rush goals, though, as the Jets’ Connor
Ryan Smith Jersey , Scheifele and Wheeler showed in helping lead a comeback from down 3-0 to beat the Predators 7-4 to take a 2-1 series lead. Winnipeg and Nashville have combined for 25 goals despite two Vezina Trophy finalists in net and some of the best defensemen in hockey. It’s a blueprint for how the NHL wanted to crank up offense.
”I think the mindset is definitely to play well defensively,” Predators captain Roman Josi said. ”Both teams want to play a good game defensively, and for some reason these two teams seem to bring the best out of each other and they’re always high-scoring games.”
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AP Sports Writers Josh Dubow in San Jose, California, and Teresa M. Walker in Nashville, Tennessee, and freelance reporter Matt Kalman in Boston contributed.
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At a time when momentum seems to be building for the Raiders trading holdout defensive end Khalil Mack, a Raiders employee has pushed back aggressively.
Former Raiders player and current Raiders radio analyst Lincoln Kennedy said on FOX Sports Radio that a trade isn’t happening.
“There’s a lot of rumors circulating about Number 52 of the Silver and Black,” Kennedy said on FOX Sports Radio. “I’m here to tell you he’s not going to be traded. Khalil Mack will be a Raider, there’s no doubt about it.” (If there is any doubt about the accuracy or context of the quote, there shouldn’t be; Kennedy retweeted the message from the FSR account.)
Kennedy’s connection to the team makes his opinion noteworthy, since he’s surely in position to get someone from the Raiders to tell Kennedy what’s going on. But it’s impossible to reconcile Kennedy’s position with the rampant and growing reports of teams exploring the trade — and with the absence of any suggestion that the Raiders are hanging up the phone on teams that are calling about Mack.
If the Raiders want to end this, there’s an easy way to do it. Publicly, coach Jon Gruden or G.M. Reggie McKenzie need to come out and say that Mack is not available
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Better yet, the Raiders need to put together a package similar if not identical to the one signed Friday by Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald and offer it to Mack. Given the absence of any negotiations since February, there’s no reason to think that will happen.聽If it does, however, it will definitely tend to prove Kennedy’s point.
Before Donald signed his deal, it was believed that the Raiders were simply waiting for Mack to crack, showing up and collecting checks in the amount of $814,000 per week. But with Donald now making $22.5 million per year in new money, Mack’s $13.846 million for 2018 is looking like very old money.
And if Raiders fans think this talk of a possible trade is getting even older, they should be insisting on someone other than Lincoln Kennedy standing up and slamming the door on a trade.
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2018-09-12, 09:52 ved that the Raiders were simply waiting fo 
