In that span Ryan Smith Jersey , the bruising defenseman blocked 446 shots and dished out even more hits. That won’t make him look more valuable on the stat sheet but certainly builds up respect among Washington Capitals teammates.
”He plays extremely hard,” forward Tom Wilson said. ”They don’t make `em like Brooks Orpik anymore.”
They really don’t.
As the NHL shifts toward speed and skill and away from size and physicality, defensemen like Orpik and Deryk Engelland of the Vegas Golden Knights are becoming rare species in hockey. Mobile puck-movers like Erik Karlsson are prized and behemoths like Hal Gill are gone.
And yet Orpik and Engelland have helped their teams reach the Stanley Cup Final and shown there’s still value in having a big defensive defenseman along for the ride – especially this time of year.
”In the playoffs, teams get to the net a lot harder,” Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. ”Everybody’s jamming things at the net and everybody’s getting numbers to the net and trying to create chaos around them. Sometimes those stay-at-home guys are very valuable. They can box you out, they can protect your goaltender in terms of not have to have second and third shots, those type of things. So they’re quite valuable in series where there’s a lot of net pressure and a lot of low play.”
Analytics don’t tell that story. Defensemen like Orpik routinely start in the defensive zone and are placed in positions to be on the ice for more shots against than shots for, so the numbers aren’t pretty.
Orpik has the eighth-worst Corsi percentage – a measure of shot attempts that simulates puck possession stats – among defensemen to play in at least 10 playoff games. Yet he has been incredibly effective at age 37 by clearing space in front of the net, delivering hits and clearing the puck out of the defensive zone.
”I know Brooksie from Pittsburgh and he stays in tremendous shape,” Engelland said. ”You try not to have guys standing around in front of the net too much and give your goalie some room. He’s a physical presence back there and maybe gives guys a second less to think with the puck, I guess you could say, and maybe rush a play or something if they don’t want to get hit. It’s always good to have that on the back end.”
Orpik scored the Game 2 winner – his first goal of any kind since Feb. 26, 2016 and first in the playoffs with the Capitals – and didn’t even remember celebrating. He’s not known for scoring, which made Washington’s T.J. Oshie all the more excited for Orpik putting the puck in the net.
”I haven’t yelled that loud for someone to score a goal since (Alex Ovechkin) scored one of his milestones,” Oshie said. ”To see him get rewarded with a goal at a big time, it makes me feel good.”
Washington goaltender Braden Holtby said defensemen like Orpik are usually his favorite players because of what they do in front of the net. Gifted two-way defensemen like the Capitals’ John Carlson and Golden Knights’ Nate Schmidt find a way to do a little bit of everything Trent Taylor Jersey , but they don’t have the size and strength of the 6-foot-3, 217-pound Orpik, who knows what his job is.
”I don’t think necessarily you want to change a lot,” Orpik said. ”I think if you try to get six defensemen that all play the exact same way, in my opinion you’re not going to be a very balanced team or you’re not going to go very far. You try to do what you’ve always done, not just with the way the game has changed. I think as you get older too if you don’t change certain things like the way you train or the way you play, you’re going to get pushed out, so you have to be able to adapt.”
Maybe a decade from now there will be less of an emphasis on hulking defensemen hired to hit more than score. But Orpik and Engelland still represent the kind of throwback players teammates want to have around.
”They compete, they make it hard on guys in front of the net,” Holtby said. ”They’re always thinking defensively with how they can help the team that way.”
Off the ice, there’s more players like Orpik and Engelland can do. Schmidt, who broke into the NHL as Orpik’s teammate in Washington, said Engelland has helped young Shea Theodore develop.
”They help guys on the mental aspect of things more than anything,” Schmidt said. ”I think that’s where they really come into play. That really translates to guys being able to flourish on the ice.”
Orpik has had the same impact on defensive partner Christian Djoos, who has been stable during this playoff run. Then there’s the importance Orpik has as an alternate captain and leader in the Capitals’ locker room in his fourth season with the team.
”The amount of leadership, the amount of everything that Brooks Orpik brings to this team Drew Bledsoe Jersey , you can’t describe it,” Wilson said. ”We’re pretty privileged to have him around. He’s a rock back there.”
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CLEVELAND (AP) — For the Browns, winning the season opener over Pittsburgh could bring closure.
The end of a 17-game losing streak. The first opening-week victory since 2004. More relief from the haunting memories of an 0-16 season. A new beginning for a franchise and fan base that has suffered far too long.
Rarely has a first game felt some important. Beyond big.
“Whew,” Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon said as he considered the multi-layered impact of beating the Steelers. “That’s the equivalent of making the playoffs here, almost a Super Bowl win. It’s something we’ve been wanting for a long time.”
It’s been five years since Gordon played in an opener, and his return after being sidelined for years by personal demons may best symbolize Cleveland’s rebirth.
The Browns believe they’re back.
When they take the field at FirstEnergy Stadium to face their hated rival, the Browns will have 31 new players — including new quarterback Tyrod Taylor and Pro Bowl wide receiver Jarvis Landry — on a roster demolished over the past few months by general manager John Dorsey and his staff. Dorsey was the mastermind of a similar rebuilding project in Kansas City, and he’s in the early stages of pushing Cleveland back to relevance.
The Browns, so accustomed to drama, seem to be coming together. The Steelers, one of the NFL’s standards of consistency, aren’t themselves.
Pittsburgh will likely be without star running back Le’Veon Bell, holding out in a contract dispute that triggered teammates to turn on him earlier this week.
“Honestly it’s a little selfish,” said center Maurkice Pouncey. “I’m kind of (ticked) right now. It sucks that he’s not here. We’ll move on as a team.”
Bell returned from a lengthy absence last season in time to play in the opener at Cleveland, but he was mostly ineffective and ran for 32 yards on 10 carries in Pittsburgh’s 21-18 win.
The Browns were without dynamic defensive end Myles Garrett that day because of injury, and the second-year defensive end is positive he would have made a difference in the outcome.
Garrett’s healthy and the 2017 No. 1 overall pick knows what a win for the Browns could bring.
“It’d be an eye opener for the rest of the league Shaquill Griffin Jersey ,” he said.
WEAK 1: The last time the Browns won an opener, Jeff Garcia was their starting quarterback, one of 29 for the team since 1999.
Cleveland’s last opening win came in 2004 over Baltimore, and the first-week losses since have set the tone for so many losing seasons. Coach Hue Jackson tried to downplay the magnitude of Sunday’s matchup while appreciating its enormity.
“I am not going to say it is the Super Bowl,” he said. “The Super Bowl is in February, but it is a huge game for us. It is our division rival. It is an AFC North game, so it really counts as two. We all recognize that, and we want to get to winning as fast as we can, but it is a 16-game season and we get that, too.”
THIS BUD’S FOR YOU: The Steelers got 16 of their franchise-record and NFL-leading 57 sacks last season against Cleveland. Still, that didn’t stop them from flipping outside linebackers T.J. Watt and Bud Dupree in the offseason hoping to produce more pressure off the edge. Pittsburgh picked up Dupree’s fifth-year option for 2019 and moved him to the quarterback’s blind side.
“What Bud did too much of last year, in my opinion, was he got past the quarterback,” defensive coordinator Keith Butler said. “To me, you’re useless when you’re past the quarterback and trying to rush the quarterback. Now, he won’t be as useless behind the quarterback because he can work back a little bit Jatavis Brown Jersey , or he can go up and under where the quarterback won’t see him.”
TAYLOR’S TURN: Taylor helped Buffalo snap a 17-year playoff drought in Buffalo last season. His first goal in Cleveland? One win.
Despite drafting Baker Mayfield with No. 1 overall pick, the Browns are starting Taylor while the Heisman Trophy winner develops.
“He’s a capable quarterback,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. “His mobility and decision making are excellent. Anytime that you have anybody under center who brings those two components of mobility, things that you are able to do schematically and things that he is able to create form an ad lib prospective, and you couple that with decision making, that it is a weapon.”
OLD FRIENDS: Todd Haley’s on the other side of the Steelers-Browns rivalry.
After six seasons with Pittsburgh, Haley is running Cleveland’s offense. Although he’s not making this matchup personal, the Browns know he wants to show the Steelers what they’re missing.
“It would mean the world to him,” Jackson said. “We all want it. We all want it for him.”
FICHTNER’S FLAVOR: Randy Fichtner spent more than a decade as the quarterbacks coach before being promoted to offensive coordinator when Pittsburgh opted to let Haley’s contract expire. The 54-year-old hasn’t altered the playbook much, but he’s expected to give quarterback Ben Roethlisberger more freedom to run the no-huddle offense.
“I think a lot of it depends on how the game is going, the flow of the game,” said Roethlisberger, who is 21-2 in starts against Cleveland. “We don’t want to force anything, but sometimes you have to try to mix it up and throw some different wrinkles at them.”
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