CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Mike Sullivan certainly had his options.
Sure, he could have kept Bryan Rust on the Penguins' top line with Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel. Or he could have promoted Patrick Hornqvist. He could have even put Jared McCann back up there. Following Saturday's brief practice at the Lemieux Complex, McCann reported that he's optimistic he can play in tomorrow's Game 3 against the Islanders.
Instead, in a move that will delight one segment of the fanbase and likely leave an equal amount scratching their head, Sullivan had Dominik Simon back on the first line. Obviously, this is not the first time that Simon has skated with Crosby and Guentzel. They were on the ice together for 203:42 this season, producing 18 goals for and just nine against. But it is the first time that Sullivan has placed him there while his team is down 2-0 and faces what is, in effect, a must-win game tomorrow afternoon against the Islanders at PPG Paints Arena.
Here, Crosby explains to me what Simon brings to the line:
"He sees the ice well. He holds onto pucks. He's got a good shot," Crosby explained. "Everyone has played with different combinations at this point in the year, but those are his strengths."
And perhaps no player is as polarizing on the Penguins' roster than the 24-year-old Czech. He is the NHL's equivalent of that blue -- or was it gold? -- dress on Twitter. It depends on your perspective. With Simon it comes down to are you an analytics or eye-test person?
In the analytics community, Simon is a rock star. From Feb. 1 on, he had a team-high 56.60 Corsi For percentage and a 68.14 high-danger chances for percentage at 5-on-5. When he's skated with Crosby and Guentzel this season, those numbers jump to 61.44 and 69.62.
Those numbers exceed those of Rust, Hornqvist and McCann. The Penguins had a 51.95 CF percentage and 54.36 HDCF percentage with Rust on the top line while they had a 59.52 and 63.16 with Hornqvist and a 54.25 and 66.67 with McCann.
But the thing with Simon is that, despite his advanced metrics, it just hasn't equaled real-world production. He scored eight goals this season with just one over the last 40 games. Over that same span, he had just seven assists while playing with a number of different centers.
Here's some video taken Saturday of Simon working on his touch around the net:
"Even though he might not score, his line scores," Sullivan said. "And usually when his line scores, he's a part of it. He's good in traffic, good in the battle areas. He's strong on the puck. He's got a good, 200-foot game and he's sound defensively. And he's a good playmaker. Even though he hasn't had the finish that we would hope he would develop over the course of a season, there's a lot of attributes in his game that helps his line have success."
With their season potentially at stake, the Penguins are hoping that success comes tomorrow at noon. Accordingly, Sullivan also reunited Phil Kessel with Evgeni Malkin and Patric Hornqvist with Nick Bjugstad. But if the Penguins are to survive this first-round and overcome their first 0-2 deficit in the Sullivan era, they'll need to get the top line back on track. Through the first two games, the Islanders have been able to smother Crosby and Guentzel. Each has been held without a point and each has just three shots on goal.
Guentzel, who entered the postseason with 23 goals in 37 career playoff games, says it's been a lack of execution more than anything Robin Lehner, Casey Cizikas, Brock Nelson or Barry Trotz's 1-1-3 has done.
"As (Saturday's) game went on, I think we got more and more (chances)," Guentzel was telling me. "I still think we can create more. We know we have to be better and tomorrow has to be our best."
Enter Simon.
No, he's not going to crash the net or pound the Islanders' defensemen into submission on the forecheck, but he can make passes in tight spaces and, as his advanced stats show, he can drive possession. A lack of offensive zone time, Sullivan says, has been Crosby and Guentzel's biggest impediment so far. Through the first two games, the line has a 46.15 CF percentage, down from 55.07 in the regular season. That's also nearly 20 points down compared to Malkin's line (66.67) and and 17 points down compared to Bjugstad's line (63.83) in the series.
"We have to have the puck more," the coach said. "You look at that zone time, it's down on both sides relative to the numbers that we're accustomed to game-in and game-out over the course of the regular-season. I think when Sid's line is at its best, they command a lot of puck possession, a lot of offensive zone time."
Simon says playing with Crosby and Guentzel is an "unbelievable" opportunity and he's quite familiar with both players' style and preferences. But he also knows, it's the playoffs and he has to produce:
• Rarely do you see an NHL player suffer an injury in the playoffs and only have it cost him one game. Fortunately for the Penguins, it appears that might be the case for McCann. After taking a Cal Clutterbuck crosscheck to the back in Game 1, McCann said he "didn't feel great and wasn't comfortable" and that's why he was sidelined for Saturday night's loss.
"Today's a different story," McCann said when I'd asked. "I feel good. We'll see where we'll go from here."
He added that he is "optimistic" to play Sunday after splitting line rushes with Zach Aston-Reese on the second-line. Sullivan, who called the 22-year-old's progress "encouraging," will give an update on McCann's status at 10 a.m. tomorrow.
• After getting in late from New York last night, the Penguins were on the ice for a little more than 20 minutes on Saturday. All expected players were on the ice.
• Olli Maatta, Chad Ruwhedel, Zach Trotman and Teddy Blueger stayed on the ice long after practice ended. With McCann likely to draw back in the lineup, it would seem likely that Blueger will join the three aforementioned defensemen as the scratches.
• Here are the lines and pairs used in practice:
Guentzel-Crosby-Simon
Aston-Reese/McCann-Malkin-Kessel
Rust-Bjugstad-Hornqvist
Blueger-Cullen-Wilson
Dumoulin-Letang
Johnson-Schultz
Pettersson-Gudbranson
(Maatta-Trotman)
• The Islanders did not practice Saturday but Barry Trotz and a handful of players spoke to the New York media before leaving for Pittsburgh. Though his team is up 2-0, Trotz is well aware that things can turn quickly. Just last spring, his Capitals had to overcome a two-game deficit to beat the Blue Jackets in the first round.
"The series is far from over," he said. "We're just focusing on another game."
• Trotz called Crosby "the gold standard." Cizikas called him "the greatest player in the world." Both coach and player allowed that the Penguins captain will always get his share of chances. But Cizikas said he also senses the Penguins' frustrations.
"I think it's just the way we're playing," the fourth-line center said. "We're playing hard. We're playing physical and playing smart hockey. We're getting back on the forecheck. Our 'D' have good gaps. We're playing Islander hockey and that can be frustrating for teams. If we continue to do that, we're going to have more success than not."
