Clearly, the second line of Evgeni Malkin, Carl Hagelin and Bryan Rust was the Penguins' best in Saturday's 5-3 win over the Maple Leafs at PPG Paints Arena. Kind of hard to argue against any trio that garners eight combined points.
Just don't discount the role of the fourth line -- no, seriously -- in the Penguins' 11th straight home win. You know the line we're talking about: Ryan Reaves, Dominik Simon and, more specifically, Carter Rowney.
Rowney has become a popular whipping boy -- and deservedly so -- among fans and media who openly pine for Jim Rutherford to land a bottom-six center before the NHL's Feb. 26 trade deadline. It was Rowney's line that was on the ice for Tyler Bozak's first-period goal that gave Toronto a 2-1 lead. Granted, Matt Murray -- for the first time in a long time -- kicked out a big rebound for a soft goal. And when Patrick Marleau's second-period power play goal evened the score at 3-3 at 15:46 of the second period? Yep, it was Rowney out there for that one, too.
It marked the sixth goal of the previous 11 the Penguins had surrendered where Rowney had been on the ice. Sure, it was a power play goal for the Leafs, but you know what? It's Rowney's job as one of the top penalty killers to prevent them from happening.
So what happened next?
Early in the third period of a tied game, Mike Sullivan sent out Rowney and the fourth liners over the boards again. That in itself is noteworthy after Rowney had been all but chained to the bench two games earlier in the third period against the Senators.
This time, the fourth line came through with what proved to be the game-winning goal. And it was Rowney who was screening Olli Maatta's slap shot from the point, taking away the vision of Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen:
"I just had to get it through and find the net," Maatta said. "I don't think the goalie saw it. Rowns did a great job screening and taking his eyes away. That's what we needed. That's what our forwards are doing a good job of. We just got to get pucks through."
Rowney ended up playing four shifts in the third period, all at 5-on-5. And that goal may not have been the fourth line's most impressive shift.
Before it, Rowney took a rare offensive zone draw, winning against Dominic Moore, as the fourth line hemmed the Leafs in their own zone. Unlike his miscue in Dallas last week where he got over-extended on a shift that allowed the Stars to score the tying goal, Rowney skated right back to the bench for the change.
"They were good," was Sullivan's assessment afterwards of his fourth line. "They did what we asked of them. They bring us energy. They had a couple good forechecking shifts, they had some offensive zone time. They score a big goal for us. When they can do that for us, they're certainly going to help us win."
But if the Penguins are to give themselves their best chance at a winning a third straight Cup, it's likely that Rutherford is going to have to deal for another depth center. Somebody is going to get left out and, spoiler alert, it's not going to be Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin or Riley Sheahan.
But for one night, hey, give Rowney credit where credit is due.
2. It's not supposed to be this easy.
But Zach Aston-Reese continues to make it look that way. He scored his third goal in three games, that after he had one taken away Thursday night by a scoring change.
On Saturday, he also had a potential assist taken away from him at 16:14 of the second period after it was ruled that Crosby kicked the puck into the net. Still, it was a great individual effort by Aston-Reese to take the puck to the net. Yes, those comparisons to Patric Hornqvist might be valid.
And just two minutes later, Aston-Reese did this:
Again, Aston-Reese gets to the net and, most impressively, knowing he's about to get crunched, he shows the patience of Job to wait out Anderson and flip the backhand in.
"I thought that was another good game," Aston-Reese said. "I thought that early in the first period, probably throughout the whole first period, I thought they had the upper hand. We just came out buzzing in that second period."
Hornqvist should be returning soon from his lower body injury but there is no chance that Aston-Reese is going back to Wilkes-Barre.
3. It was a mixed bag for Matt Hunwick.
Seemingly the only player less popular with fans than Rowney is Hunwick. With Justin Schultz being a late scratch with an illness, Hunwick was back in the lineup after being a healthy scratch the previous nine games.
And on Connor Brown's tying goal at 6:41 of the first period, Hunwick looked very much like a guy who hadn't played since Jan. 23. Hunwick got caught out of position looking at James van Riemsdyk behind the net as JVR centered the puck to Brown for an easy goal.
But Hunwick, who played the right side on a pairing with Maatta, did feed the Finn for the go-ahead goal in the third (see clip at top). Later in the third, Hunwick also did just enough to disrupt Tyler Bozak's 2-on-1 pass to van Riemsdyk that would have been an easy lay-up.
In all, Hunwick played 16:15, all at 5-on-5, but did little to distinguish himself otherwise. If Schultz is feeling well enough to play Sunday in Columbus, Hunwick will be sitting again.
4. An assist for Andy O'Brien and Alex Trinca.
You won't find their names on the stat sheet, but the Penguins strength and conditioning department should get the No. 4 star of the game.
Think you were out of breath watching this track meet? Imagine being one of the players who participated in it. This game came as advertised between two teams who can absolutely skate and get in on the forecheck. It was played at a frenetic pace, with chances at both ends and few stoppages. There were just three penalties called, none until the second period.
"This was probably the quickest team that we've played so far in my short time up," Aston-Reese said. "They were really good in transition and really skilled. It wasn't one of the more physical games, but it's tougher in the sense of the pace and the quickness."
Not sure if Toronto has the defense -- at least as currently constructed -- to win the Stanley Cup this year, but you wouldn't want to face them in the playoffs, either. Whoever they play, they're going to take a piece out of them.
5. Auston Matthews is a great player ...
But the Maple Leafs young superstar couldn't convert on a couple of golden chances that could have easily changed the outcome. Twice in the first period he missed on his backhand wide right a la Scott Norwood:
More disappointing though was Matthews going down easily on two soft hits to the back and taking himself out of the play.
A young superstar looking for calls? Hey, that used to be Pittsburgh's thing.
Yep, these Leafs do remind a lot of Pittsburgh teams circa 2007-08. Their time is coming. The Penguins should hope it's not this year.