After suffering perhaps their worst loss of the season in Chicago, a dispirited performance save for the effort of Bryan Rust, changes figured to be coming to the Penguins' lineup.
Those changes came Friday morning.
Mike Sullivan mixed up his top two lines in an apparent effort to spark the slumping Evgeni Malkin. The two-time Hart Trophy winner remains tied for the team lead in points (33), but he's also tied for a team-worst minus-11 rating.
Most troubling is that he's also been completely absent at even strength.
Of his 33 points, 10 have come on the power play. Since the Nov. 14 trade of Carl Hagelin, Malkin has scored just three goals, two of those on the power play. His last goal was Dec. 4 vs. the Avalanche, and that was his first at 5-on-5 since Oct. 30.
Sullivan sounded confident that Malkin's game will rebound, but the Russian superstar needs to not overthink things.
"Just simplifying his game, slowing his game down, slowing his skating down, supporting the breakout, stopping on pucks," the coach said. "When he has an opportunity to shoot the puck, shoot the puck. Don't look for the next play. We think he'll come out of it. Geno tends to be a streaky guy and sometimes all it takes is one goal and then he's off to building momentum again."
Tanner Pearson, acquired from the Kings for Hagelin, had skated most often on Malkin's left wing, and though they showed some initial chemistry, that has since dried up. Pearson has gone eight games without a goal, earning just one assist over that span.
During Friday's morning skate, Pearson was bumped up to the top line with Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel, who will shift to the right wing.
Though he's disappointed in his production, Pearson says it's not been for a lack of chances. He pointed out his miss from three feet out Wednesday night in Chicago. His only game in a Penguins uniform that he hasn't registered at least one shot on goal was his first.
"When things aren't going right, that's what happens with the lineup, things get juggled around," Pearson said. "But hopefully it works out for the best."
The second line featured Malkin reunited with Kessel and Zach Aston-Reese moving into the top-six on the left wing. That's a bit of a departure for Aston-Reese, who hasn't played that role this season.
"I have to bring some physicality, some net-front presence and a little bit of grit," Aston-Reese said. "I really can't change my game too much. I'm there for a reason, and that's what I've been doing in the bottom six."
By playing him on a line with Malkin and Kessel, Sullivan says that means Aston-Reese will need to be that line's defensive conscience.
"When Geno and Phil play together, they tend to like to play in motion, they're dynamic on the rush," Sullivan said when I had asked. "(Aston-Reese) is a guy who's going to go to the net, maybe bang a rebound in. He also has good awareness away from the puck. He's a good 200-foot player, so he'll help them in that regard as well."
With all of the shuffling on Friday, Derick Brassard was bumped back down the lineup as the third-line center between Riley Sheahan and Rust. Brassard was one of the last players off the ice and did not speak with reporters.
THE ESSENTIALS
THE INJURIES
• Penguins: Patric Hornqvist, right winger, will miss his fourth straight game with an upper body injury. Sullivan said Friday that he is still day-to-day but making progress. ... Dominik Simon, forward, will miss his fifth game with a lower body injury. He was placed on IR a week ago but Sullivan said that he is now "week to week." ... Justin Schultz, defenseman, is expected to miss four months after fracturing his leg Oct. 13 in Montreal.
• Bruins: Patrice Bergeron, center, is on IR with a rib injury suffered Nov. 16. He has resumed skating but has yet to practice. ... That's the same status for Zdeno Chara, defenseman, who has been out since Nov. 14 with a lower body injury. ... Jacob DeBrusk, forward, is out with an upper body injury. ... Kevan Miller, defenseman, was placed on IR with a cartilage injury to his larynx. ... Urho Vaakanainen, defenseman, is on IR with a concussion suffered Oct. 23.
THE SKATE
• After Casey DeSmith started and lost Wednesday in Chicago, it seemed as good a time as any to get Matt Murray his first start in net after nearly a month-long absence due to a lower body injury.
The Penguins are at home.
They're facing a Bruins team that hasn't won in Pittsburgh since Dec. 18, 2015, Sullivan's third game as the Penguins' coach.
DeSmith, a New England native, had one career start against the Bruins, a game in which gave up three goals on five shots last year.
So, Murray seemed the obvious choice, no?
Sullivan had other plans.
DeSmith will, in fact, make his seventh straight start.
Don't worry, the coach said, with five games in the next seven days, including one 24-hours later, Murray will get his share of action. The No. 1 goalie still has had just one full practice since coming off IR.
"We're trying to put Matt in the best possible position to be successful," Sullivan said. "It was more out of 'How do we get the best out of both of them?' So we give those guys the best opportunity to be successful and our team the best chance to win."
• After Rust put the finishing touches on his second career hat trick Wednesday night in Chicago, snapping a career-worst, 21-game goal-less drought, cameras caught Sullivan embracing the Penguins' forward at the bench. What was said? Ah, Rust wouldn't divulge that, but he's hoping to build off that performance. Like many, he says he's a streaky goal scorer.
"That's what I'm hoping for," he said. "That's what history says and just how hockey goes. But we'll see."
• Pearson's focus is on the Bruins but it was kind of hard for him to not think of his former team. After all, the Kings were practicing Friday afternoon at PPG Paints Arena, where they'll face the Penguins tomorrow night. The Kings' equipment and makeshift locker room was not even 100 feet from the Penguins' locker room door.
He says he still keeps in touch with many of his former teammates but is glad he doesn't have to play against them often.
"It's going to be kind of weird, for sure," he was telling me. "Playing six years alongside those guys, lined up against them is going to be weird. But I'm here now. We can be friends off the ice, but we (the Penguins) have to get on a roll here."
THE OTHER SIDE
• The Bruins will also go with their backup goalie as Jaroslav Halak will start in place of Tuukka Rask, who will likely start Sunday at TD Garden vs. the Sabres. In his career, Halak is 9-6-2 with a .924 save percentage and 2.48 goals-against average against the Penguins. On Nov. 23 in Boston, he out-dueled Tristan Jarry, stopping 36 of 37 shots in a 2-1 overtime win.
• Noel Acciari, a healthy scratch the previous three games, is back in the lineup and will center the fourth line, according to head coach Bruce Cassidy.
• The Bruins held a full skate at PPG Paints Arena.
THE COMBINATIONS
• Here's a look at the Penguins' lines and pairs based on what was seen in practice Monday:
Pearson — Crosby — Guentzel
Aston-Reese — Malkin — Kessel
Sheahan — Brassard — Rust
Grant — Cullen — Wilson
Dumoulin — Letang
Pettersson — Johnson
Maatta — Oleksiak
• These are the Bruins lines and pairs used Friday:
Marchand -- Krejci -- Pastrnak
Nordstrom -- Cave -- Backes
Donato -- Forsbacka-Karlsson -- Heinen
Kuraly -- Acciari -- Wagner
Krug -- Carlo
Grzelcyk -- McAvoy
Moore -- Kampfer
THE SCHEDULE
Faceoff tonight is at 7:08 p.m. at PPG Paints Arena. The Penguins will host the Kings tomorrow night at 7:08 p.m. They will not hold a morning skate but Mike Sullivan will address the media at 5 p.m.
THE COVERAGE
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