Kovacevic: Malkin's straight-line center stage taken at PPG Paints Arena (DK's Grind)

MATT SUNDAY / DKPS

Evgeni Malkin shoots on the Maple Leafs' Kasimir Kaskisuo, Saturday night at PPG Paints Arena.

It used to be known as 'Ruslan Fedotenko hockey' around here.

That was Dan Bylsma's playful pet phrase for the Penguins a decade ago, and it stemmed from the simplest of concepts: Fedotenko, a tank of a winger who came with a touch to match, would plow a wedge through the opponent with a straight-line forecheck and, in doing so, he'd carve out all kinds of space for anyone who followed.

Most often, that was Evgeni Malkin.

And man, he loved it. Really, for as long as I've known him, I've never seen him light up at the mention of a former mate quite like he does for Fedotenko. In part because they're still buds, but probably more because, on the ice, Fedotenko ... he just got it. He understood that what came naturally to him blended beautifully with what Malkin does best.

I mentioned this to both of Malkin's current linemates late Saturday night following the 6-1 mauling of the Maple Leafs at PPG Paints Arena and, although Fedotenko predated Bryan Rust and Jake Guentzel by plenty, they definitely got it, too.

Meaning why that plow-a-wedge effect works for Malkin.

"I think if Geno has guys playing north-south, if you push that defenseman back, you can make that room for him behind you," Rust told me. "So then, if the puck gets back to him -- which it usually does -- he'll have a little more time, maybe pull up and look for a trailer, maybe take it to the net himself. But it's up to him."

Rust raised both eyebrows and added, "Kinda like his goal tonight."

Kinda like:

That was 8:44 after the opening faceoff, bringing a 2-0 lead, and it also brings home all of the above: Rust bursts down the vertical middle of the ice, backchecked in vain by Toronto's Andreas Johnsson even as he forces both defensemen, Jake Muzzin and Tyson Barrie to back off the blue line.

In fact, Muzzin's sent so far out of orbit by Rust that he never even has a chance to tripod around and skate backward, as he's supposed to. Instead, he chases Rust all the way below the goal line, which is about as decisive a wedge triumph as one will ever witness.

"Just going hard all the way through," Rust explained with a shrug. "I've got to move through there."

He did. As a result, Barrie moves toward Guentzel along the boards once Rust dished that way, but too late. Guentzel pumps right back across to Malkin, who'd just made a lateral dart into a vacancy that merits an isolation of its own:

Know all those times Malkin drives you nuts with all his east-west?

Funny how the east-west works when it's accompanied by some good, old north-south.

"I think any great player like Geno appreciates that," Guentzel told me. "He's so skilled that, if you get him room and the puck, he can do anything. He showed that again tonight."

He did. But it wasn't just about his goal, his assist, his four shots, his line's nine five-on-five scoring chances or even their similar statistical dominance the previous night in Newark, when Mike Sullivan first sent them over the boards together.

It's much more, at least from this perspective, about what that straight-line approach means for Malkin and maybe, via symbiosis, to the rest of the team as a whole.

Here's another rush, a few minutes before the goal:

Same cast of characters, right down to Muzzin on Rust. Similar script, too, with the straight-line attack from both flanks, except that this time it's Malkin in the middle drawing all the eyes and the lunging sticks. He capitalizes by slipping the puck under Muzzin's shaft for Rust to wrist one from the dot.

No goal here, but the tone's set.

"I thought we got off to a decent start," John Tavares, the Maple Leafs' captain mused later. "But they came right at us, got the couple goals, and we ... we didn't respond very well to it."

This one's in the second period:

Malkin's flying. Just flying. This is one of those authoritative Malkin accelerations that's always lifted you from your seat.

But here again, Rust and Guentzel go directly toward the net, dragging with them four white sweaters and not allowing any of them to get set. Poor Muzzin, in particular, looks JV one more time in lumbering back skating forward.

Malkin drops for Guentzel, who tries a pass that doesn't sneak through, but the tone's now etched in stone.

Let's hold these two truths to be self-evident on this subject:

1. A fully engaged Malkin is an excellent Malkin.

2. There's no fully engaged Malkin without the puck.

The latter's no exaggeration. Some scorers can live without it for sustained stretches. Not this one. He's always needed a regular touch, to borrow more of a soccer term, or he'll lapse out in his own way. But once he gets all the gears going, as the above rushes powerfully illustrate that he did, the engagement rises to another level.

Below is the Penguins' best shift of the evening, the Malkin line's second. It led to their only power play and, within that, a Guentzel goal, but this is about the shift itself. It's 35 seconds and requires a tap of the play button, but it's worth it:

Saving you the counting: Malkin touches the puck six separate times, including the clean draw in the neutral zone. And on one of those touches -- with 15:35 showing on the clock up there -- he simply pushes the puck into the open right corner for one of his wingers to chase down. As one team official later observed, "You never see him do that, just putting it somewhere like that." But he did, and it played out with Guentzel being first to pounce.

I won't take this too far. This was one complete effort after a handful of stinkers. This also came against a goaltender making his NHL debut at age 26 whose name I've already forgotten. And against an overall opponent that appeared to be principally motivated to get Mike Babcock fired, judging by all the odd-man breaks conceded and by Auston Matthews ... wait, did he even dress?

But what does make for a meaningful takeaway is this: The best path the Penguins can take toward sustaining success without Sidney Crosby is to have the other resident superstar rise up. And that needs to start with those riding shotgun.

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