The Penguins' top two lines had different configurations for the first time since an injury to Evan Rodrigues forced change nearly a month ago.
"We're trying to find some balance through our lineup," Mike Sullivan said of what he was hoping to get by making changes. "We think it's important to have that competitive balance in order to win consistently. We were trying to make some adjustments so that we could get more more effective balance throughout the four forward lines."
That balance was sought by swapping the right wings of the top two lines: Kasperi Kapanen was moved up to play with Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel on the top line, and Bryan Rust joined Evgeni Malkin and Jason Zucker on the second line, reuniting the Rust-Malkin connection that was so successful at points last season.
The decision paid off early in the game, and it continued to pay off right up until the end of the Penguins' 4-1 win over the Islanders at PPG Paints Arena.
Early in the top line's second shift of the game, Kapanen forced a turnover in the Islanders' zone and took a shot as he was falling to the ice. Crosby's redirection gave the Penguins an early lead:
In the third period, it was the second line's turn to extend the Penguins' lead.
Midway through the period, Malkin won a battle along the boards and passed the puck to Rust, who set up Zucker from behind the net:
"We're just trying to battle," Zucker said of the second line's performance. "Geno and Rust are two amazing players, and for me I want to complement them anytime I can. Those two guys made a great play on the goal, I was just trying to get it on net there. But overall, I think we're trying to play three tight, just gain that chemistry and just keep building."
Later in the period, when Barry Trotz pulled Semyon Varlamov for the extra attacker with over three minutes remaining in the game, the line teamed up again. Malkin cleared the puck from the Penguins' zone, and Rust and Zucker had a 2-on-0 at the empty net after Zucker carried the puck into the offensive zone. Zucker had a clear shot at the net, but opted to pass the puck to Rust and let Rust put his name in the goal column instead, the ultimate good guy move:
I asked Zucker after the game if that was in anyway a repayment for Rust's great feed earlier in the period.
"No," he said with a grin. "That's just, honestly I feel like it's the right thing to do, you know? Geno made a great play coming out of the zone, Bryan beat his guy up the ice. We all get a point, we're all happy, we won the game. That's all that matters. You try to get everybody a touch in that situation."
Overall, the Penguins just barely edged out the Islanders in shot attempts, controlling 50.57 percent of all shot attempts in the game at five-on-five. When the second line was on the ice, the Penguins controlled 70 percent, although they had no defensive zone faceoffs. The Penguins only controlled 37.50 percent of all shot attempts when the top line was on the ice, but they also had twice as many defensive zone faceoffs as any other line.
It's safe to say that the top two lines could keep this look next game.
"I thought tonight it was effective," Sullivan said of the swap. "We had, for the most part, four lines going pretty well. That's what it's going to take to win consistently. It's hard to rely on just one line each and every night to win consistently. You've got to get contributions throughout your lineup, so the balance is important for us."
