The Penguins' fourth line has been a weak spot throughout much of the season, with a rotating cast of characters.
The latest change came when Kasperi Kapanen was bumped up to the Penguins' third line, and it created a new fourth line of Colton Sceviour, Mark Jankowski, and Evan Rodrigues.
As Evgeni Malkin, Freddy Gaudreau, and eventually Brandon Tanev near returns, the fourth line will surely be shuffled again, and the current configuration probably won't last much longer.
At least until that time comes, the Penguins may have finally found a winning combination, because the line of Sceviour, Jankowski, and Rodrigues in Saturday's 4-2 win over the Devils was the best the fourth line has looked all season.
It's not often that the crowd gives an ovation for a fourth-line shift that doesn't end in a goal, but the line's shift late in the first period earned that.
Here is the shift in its entirety, with the fourth line keeping the Devils pinned in their zone for the full minute after recovering the puck, winning a couple of board battles along the way. In the few moments when the Devils had possession, the fourth line prevented the Devils from getting a shot off and quickly regained possession:
All three of the forwards on the fourth line were key in that clip above. Nobody was a passenger.
The fourth line was dominant throughout the game when they were together, only being separated in the second period for a couple of shifts when Rodrigues stepped up to the third line in Kapanen's short absence due to a minor injury.
"We had certain guys getting nicked up throughout the course of game and had to use different guys throughout the lineup," Mike Sullivan said. "E-Rod played in a bunch of different spots."
The combination of Sceviour, Jankowski, and Rodrigues was on the ice for a total of 5:48, and they didn't allow even a single attempt at a shot on goal in that time. No other regular Penguins forward line allowed fewer than nine attempts. And while the line didn't score, they generated 10 shot attempts of their own, five of which reached the net. For context, the second and third lines registered 13 attempts in double the amount of time. The top line matched the fourth line's output of attempts, but in about three times the amount of time.
The fourth line also didn't lose a single faceoff during the game, which helped in their effort to control the play. Rodrigues and Jankowski split faceoff duties, with Jankowski going 3-for-3 and Rodrigues going 2-for-2.
Beyond the five-on-five play, all three played at least 55 seconds of shorthanded time in a game in which the Penguins went 2-for-2 on the penalty kill
"They brought us good energy," Sullivan said of that line's play. "They had a couple of real good momentum shifts for us. ... They killed penalties for us. Those are the types of roles that we need them to play for us in order to become the team we want to become. I thought they had a good game tonight."