Each time Boston's top line jumps over the boards, the Tampa Bay Lightning are on red alert.
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
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
"Every line, every group of forwards, give different challenges for
Especially in the Stanley Cup playoffs, it's not easy playing good D.
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
"We've got a game plan, but I don't think we've completely executed it yet," Sharks
The Penguins trail the Capitals 2-1 in their second-round series in part because they haven't gotten much
"They're pretty aggressive, so there's some open ice heading the other way against them," top Capitals
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
"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,"
It's not just rush goals, though, as the Jets' Connor, 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
"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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Follow Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno on Twitter at https://twitter.com/SWhyno
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More NHL hockey: https://apnews.com/tag/NHLhockey
Stephen Whyno, The Associated Press