NASHVILLE, Tenn. — It wasn’t until a few weeks before he was traded to Pittsburgh that Nick Bjugstad says he became aware of Dominik Simon.
Bjugstad had been watching the Penguins' highlights one night, when he saw Simon make a silky smooth pass that led to a Sidney Crosby goal. "Know which goal I'm talking about?" Bjugstad was asking me the other day at Bridgestone Arena.
"Oh, yeah." Of course, it had to be the game in Vancouver on Oct. 27 when Simon abused Michael Del Zotto with a hard pass between the then-Canucks defenseman's skates. The puck perfectly found Crosby, who drove to the net and finished with a backhander past Jacob Markstrom:
"No, it was a backdoor pass against the Lightning," Bjugstad said. "Crosby came around the net, I don’t know how he saw him on that backdoor. Pretty sure it was the Lightning."
Thanks to the power of Youtube, I was able to find it. It was this Crosby goal on Jan. 27 against Tampa that Bjugstad was referring to:
It might not have been as flashy as the goal at Rogers Arena but it was equally effective and perfectly demonstrates Simon's playmaking ability.
"From then on, I knew who he was and then I got traded here and got to know him," Bjugstad said. "Great guy. Playing with him you get the puck a lot. He’s fun to play with.”
Not only has he got to know him, Bjugstad and Simon are now linemates along with veteran right winger Patric Hornqvist on the Penguins' third line. While Mike Sullivan has made tweaks to his top two forward lines -- most notably, flipping Jared McCann with Bryan Rust -- he has left the trio of Simon, Bjugstad and Hornqvist intact.
"They're a real good 200-foot line, they are conscientious defensively," Sullivan said Thursday. "They’ve shown an ability to score. They've controlled territory. That line's been good for us for a number of games."
And Thursday night's 2-1 shootout win over the Predators may have been their finest to date. They weren't the Penguins' most productive line, but they were clearly the most effective. Even more so than the Crosby line, which is saying something. The Corsi Kids dominated, putting on a clinic in puck support and possession with an 80.81 Corsi For percentage at even strength. They put 12 shots on goal and combined on 19 shot attempts.
The key to the line, Bjugstad says, is that the three players are similar in some ways.
"If we work hard, we all kind of like to forecheck and work down low, support each other," Bjugstad was telling me. “That’s when things go well. You’ve got a veteran guy in Horny, who is smart, seems to always be coming up with the puck. And Simon, you give him the puck and he’s able to slip it in there. Just two good players. We're similar in ways, and different in others."
In 88:09 together this season, this latest incarnation of the third line has a 59.65 CF percentage and has generated 23 high-danger chances for and just eight against. But here's the rub: They've done everything but score consistently. The trio has only cashed in on three goals.
Bjugstad scored March 10 against the Bruins and again March 14 at Buffalo, but has gone dry in the four games since. But it's not for a lack of shooting. The tall center has fired 17 shots on goal, five of them Thursday against the Predators.
Simon's goal, the Penguins' lone marker in a 5-1 loss to the Blues last weekend, was his first in 20 games. Hornqvist has just two goals in 28 games since returning from his fourth documented concussion. But both of those goals came via the power play and both against the sagging Sabres.
Again, it hasn't been for a lack of effort. Hornqvist had the third line's best opportunity with a little under seven minutes to play on Thursday, but was denied by the right pad of Pekka Rinne:
Hornqvist has 22 shots on goal since being placed with Bjugstad earlier this month.
"We have to bury a few here," Bjugstad said. "Getting the chances is great, but it's got to go in at some point."
The third line's plight only underscores the Penguins' bigger predicament. They need to get offense from someone other than Crosby or Guentzel. Thursday's game marked the fourth straight game that the Penguins have scored two goals or less and the second in a row that all the scoring came with Crosby's line on the ice. If that issue isn't corrected and soon, the Penguins' playoff run will likely be an abbreviated one.
Obviously, it's frustrating for all concerned. Bjugstad says the Penguins, himself included, must trust the process and believe that all their possession and shot attempts will finally lead to actual goals.
"You’ve got a lot of these top-end guys on this team that can carry the load in certain situations," Bjugstad was saying. "It’s time for us to come up and play well defensively and chip in offensively as well. Two skilled wingers on my side, I think we should be able to do that and find a way to get a goal or two."