Before the Penguins left for New York on Wednesday, Mike Sullivan held an afternoon virtual media availability.
I raised my hand and opened by asking for his assessment of the fourth line's play through the first two games.
"When you say the fourth line," Sullivan said, "I'm assuming you're talking about Teddy Blueger's line?"
That line of Zach Aston-Reese, Blueger, and Brandon Tanev is technically the fourth line on the lineup sheet, but Sullivan isn't exactly a fan of ranking his lines with labels when speaking about them.
And in the case of the fourth line Blueger's line, Sullivan opting to avoid ranking it "the fourth line" in name also speaks to how effective the line has been when they've been put together.
That's been especially true through these first two games of the series.
"Teddy's line has had a real good series to this point," Sullivan said. "They're an important line for us. They help us with momentum, they're hard to play against. They can play against anyone. They bring a physical element to our overall team game. They've had some offensive zone time, a number of scoring chances. And they're a big part of the penalty kill as well. I think they've had strong efforts, and I would anticipate that they would continue to do that moving forward."
That line's ability to "play against anyone" has been on display in these first two games.
One of the keys for the Penguins in this series against the Islanders is neutralizing the Islander's top line of Leo Komarov, Mat Barzal, and Jordan Eberle.
The importance of neutralizing Barzal especially was something Sullivan spoke of in his pregame availability on the morning of Game 1.
"He's a dynamic player, offensively," Sullivan said of Barzal. "We're going to have to be aware when he's on the ice. The key (to defending him) is that we have to take his speed away, when we have an opportunity. We have to try to take his time and space away when we have an opportunity."
Through the first two games of the series in Pittsburgh, all three members of the Islanders' top line have recorded exactly zero points in the series. They've combined for just 12 shots on goal through two games.
The line that the Penguins most frequently deployed against the Islanders' top line in each of the two games so far has been Blueger's line, and that line's strong defensive play has been a big reason for the Islanders' top line being absent from the scoresheet as the series moves to New York.
Let's break down the impact of the Blueger line, especially in the case of neutralizing the Islanders' top line.
GAME 1
The Islanders' top line -- but especially Barzal -- was such a non-factor offensively in the opening game of the series.
Barzal didn't even record a single shot attempt -- let alone a shot on goal -- until the 7:41 mark of overtime on Sunday.
At five-on-five, the Islanders' top line was the only line of theirs that had more shots against than for when they were on the ice. They led the Islanders with 14:45 of ice time. When they were on the ice together, the Islanders only recorded a total of three shots and allowed nine.
A little under half of that ice time was spent playing against the Blueger line, but that's where most of the chances came from against the Islanders' top line. When the Islander's top line was matched with the Blueger line, the Islanders only recorded one shot on goal but allowed five.
GAME 2
The Blueger line was on another level on Tuesday, and it was evident from their first shift when Brandon Tanev crushed Brock Nelson in the corner right off the bat:
The line was flying after that. The Islander's top line came out in the seconds following the hit, and the Penguins kept them pinned in their own zone for almost the entire shift. Here's the rest of that shift, starting in the seconds after Tanev's hit:
They were physical, they were winning board battles, and getting some chances of their own. They didn't give the Islanders' top line any offensive zone time. Not much more you could ask for there, and that's huge for momentum to have such a strong start to the game like that.
The impact of that line and its ability to just add energy back into the lineup was perhaps most evident after the Penguins' two flat, failed power play attempts just minutes apart in the second period. Those two strong kills so close together had the potential to swing the momentum in the Islanders' direction. Both times, though, the Penguins sent out the Blueger line immediately afterward and any hope of New York getting a boost from the effective penalty kill was squashed.
The Penguins didn't get a single shot on goal on the first power play opportunity, which ended at 6:12 of the middle frame. Blueger's line came onto the ice as soon as the power play ended, and generated chance after chance after chance in the Islanders' zone:
The Penguins went back on the power play less than two minutes after the first one ended. Jeff Carter recorded the only shot on goal of the opportunity, another flat man advantage for the Penguins. Again, the Penguins sent Blueger's line back out there right as the power play expired
The line didn't generate the chances that they did the first time, but they shut down two Islanders rush attempts and prevented them from getting any shots off:
The line was statistically the Penguins' most effective line in Game 2. When they were on the ice, the Penguins controlled 68.42 percent of the shot attempts (13 for, 6 allowed) and 64.29 percent of the shots on goal (9 for, 5 allowed). They were the only one of the Penguins' lines to not allow a single high-danger attempt against in Game 2, and they also generated two high-danger attempts of their own.
The Blueger line again matched up against the Islanders' top line most often, and again kept them off the scoresheet. They controlled the majority of the shot attempts when on the ice against the Islanders' top line, though the actual shots on goal when both lines were fully on the ice were even.
With both games of the series so far being one-goal games, a strong defensive effort -- especially against the Islanders' most dangerous offensive threats -- from the Penguins is going to continue to be a key as the series moves to New York. And Blueger's line is going to have to continue to be a big part of that.