Mike Sullivan and his staff will have to contend with one of the NHL's top lines when the Penguins face Boston at PPG Paints Arena tonight at 7:08.
Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy, however, might be be the guy worrying the most about his other three forward units.
Boston's No. 1 line, which has Patrice Bergeron between Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak, has accounted for nearly half of the team's goals (34 of 70) this season, and its members have come by that total honestly.
"They're three highly skilled players who can skate well and who have great chemistry," Bryan Rust said after the Penguins' game-day skate.
He singled out Bergeron as the key to the group's success.
"He's kind of the anchor of that line," Rust said. "He works really hard at both ends of the ice. He's great on faceoffs and his attention to details ... whoever's on the ice against that line tonight has to be pretty thorough and has to work hard."
Working hard is never a bad thing, but it would be understandable if the Penguins relax a bit when a line other than Bergeron's goes over the boards.
Sullivan, though, cautioned against assuming that Boston's other forwards will continue to have trouble finding the net.
"Boston has a deep team," he said. "We know that even though they have not had secondary scoring as of late, we know how capable they are. We just have to make sure that we focus on the game that we're trying to play. We're going to try to get to that game as early and often as we can."
ALSO FROM THE SKATE:
• Tristan Jarry is scheduled to start in goal for the Penguins.
• Boston's power play has converted 23.9 percent of its chances, good for 12th place in the NHL rankings. "They have elite, skilled players," Teddy Blueger said. "They're all very smart. They can all shoot. They're dangerous from aa number of different spots." The Penguins' penalty-kill, which struggled mightily in the early weeks of the season, has been better of late, allowing three goals in 19 shorthanded situations during the past seven games. "We have to continue to make progress," Sullivan said. "That's an important aspect of helping us win."
• Rust, on the physical challenges of playing five games in seven days, a stretch the Penguins will enter tonight: "I don't think you really try to preserve anything."
• Injured defenseman Mark Friedman participated in the game-day skate, but will not be in the lineup tonight. Injured forward Jared McCann and defenseman John Marino skated with skills coach Ty Hennes and also are out tonight.
• Sullivan, on defenseman Cody Ceci: "Cody's done a nice job for us. I think he's getting a lot more comfortable within our team concept and how we're trying to play. He's done a really good job joining the rush. I think he's helping on the breakouts. He's defending hard. He's done a nice job on both sides of the puck."