Kovacevic: Burden's on Sullivan to keep goals coming from Rodrigues

It took one small, oh-so-sweet step for Evan Rodrigues to, once again, set himself apart.

And it took scarcely a minute.

Scoop up some popcorn, kids:

A fourth-liner might never put himself into position for a two-on-one. A third-liner might try an unscreened shot from the left dot. A second-liner might try a pass across to Dominik Simon.

A first-liner, my friends, does this: He eats up the defenseman, San Jose's Radim Simek, with a ferocious cut into the slot, then fires back against his momentum top shelf by the blocker of the goaltender, James Reimer, then thrusts himself into the nearest glass to celebrate with the nearest fans.

"I've always believed I had the ability," Rodrigues would say after his hat trick, plus one by Bryan Rust, propelled the Penguins past the Sharks, 8-5, on this Sunday afternoon at PPG Paints Arena. "I've always believed in my talents. I've had good years throughout my career. And I think, coming in this year and playing significant minutes right off the bat, I had a good start and, from there, I knew I could do it. And I've continued to get that ice time, continued to get that opportunity. Now, it's kind of just for me to come in everyday, do the right things and continuing to play the way I am.”

The goals for Rodrigues were Nos. 11, 12 and 13 in the team's 30th game and first since Dec. 19 due to a COVID pause that also kept Rodrigues from practice most of this week. 

Been that kind of year.

But it sure hadn't been that kind of career.

He's 28 years old, he was acquired in February 2020 from the Sabres by Jim Rutherford as an afterthought in the Conor Sheary/Dominik Kahun trade, his rights were then traded to Toronto in August of that year as an afterthought in the Kasperi Kapanen trade, the Maple Leafs never bothered signing him that summer, he boomeranged back here through free agency on a one-year, $700,000 contract, then was brought back yet again through free agency -- this time by Ron Hextall -- this past offseason on a one-year, $1 million contract.

Along the way, he'd never topped nine goals in any of his seven NHL seasons, most of those split with time in the minors.

Now, he's got those 13 goals, second to Jake Guentzel on the team, as well as 13 assists and a team-high 105 shots. And none of it's come with a fluky feel. His shooting percentage, generally the figure that best betrays an unusual outburst, is a decent 11.2. This hat trick was the first of his career, and he's had only one other multiple-goal output this season, so it's not as if this is some streak.

Here are the other two goals:

Either of those have a lucky look to them?

On the advanced end: Among all NHL players who've participated in three-quarters of their team's games, Rodrigues ranks fourth with a 61.61 Corsi For percentage at five-on-five, meaning that, when he's on the ice at even-strength, the Penguins produce 61.61% of all shot attempts. He's a possession demon. All over the puck, all over the rink.

Oh, and get this: The only three players ahead of him are the Bruins' Patrice Bergeron (65.77), Brad Marchand (63.33) and David Pastrnak (62.07). So, it's the best line in hockey ... and Rodrigues.

And to all of this, I've got three things to say:

1. Good for him. Great dude.
2. Hextall had best get him signed.
3. Mike Sullivan can't slow him down.

I won't go too far in projecting Rodrigues' future, and I can't even guess at what it'd take to keep him in Pittsburgh at this point. If he hits the open market next summer, with his relative youth inside the free-agency pool, he might be worth his 184 pounds in gold.

But I can safely state this much: No matter who's in this lineup, now or in the months to come, Rodrigues has to remain a priority when it comes to his usage. If he's a first-liner, then, even if he isn't on the actual designated first line -- Sidney Crosby's just a little likely to stay between Guentzel and Rust -- he's got to get first-line minutes. And he absolutely, unequivocally needs to stay on the top power-play unit, with the way his shot's shown up from that left side.

I brought this up with Sullivan after the game, asking if he might need to adopt a flow of three scoring lines -- Evgeni Malkin, Jeff Carter, Kasperi Kapanen, Jason Zucker and Teddy Blueger were among the forwards who missed this one -- and he hardly needed me to elaborate.

“For sure it does," Sullivan came right back. "E-Rod’s had a great year for us. He's obviously scored a fair amount of goals. He's helping us generate offense. He's got good offensive instincts. His performance to this point has earned him the opportunities he's been given here. And so, as we start to get healthy guys back in the lineup, I just think it makes us deeper. It gives us more offense in a different amount of lines. It gives us versatility. We know he can play center, we know he can play the wing."

It was there that Sullivan appeared to want to stress his next remark.

"What I've been impressed with is his play at center to this point. I think he's done a really nice job at the center-ice position. He sees the ice really well, he can distribute the puck, but he's generating a lot of speed through the middle. And so, it's just going to give us a lot of options. We're obviously excited about the opportunity to get a full complement of players at some point. But in the meantime, you know, he's really done a good job playing up the lineup for us and contributing offensively, helping us find ways to win hockey games.”

That sound encouraging enough?

Eh. Guess we'll see.

But if Sullivan's valuing what he sees of Rodrigues as an even-strength center, as a power-play gunner, there's everything to gain from pushing forth. And he's clearly taking that stance.

Thing is, Rodrigues has to take it, too. All too often, players who've filled one role forever will fall right back into it as a default.

I brought that up with Rodrigues, and he sounded unfazed.

“Yeah, I think it's, you know, it's almost a success of our team," he'd reply. "We roll four lines, and we have a next-man mentality. I think if everyone just does their job and stays confident, we'll be fine. And, you know, hopefully can get on a little bit of a roll once we get everyone back ... or continue the roll we're on, I guess.”

He laughed at that. Eight wins in a row and all.

He's played a prodigious role in that and the 18-8-5 start, and that can't change.

• Rust had been out 11 games, and all he contributed were five points via his three goals and two assists.

"I was just happy to be back out there," Rust would say. "Playing again and being around the guys, doing all that ... to have the night I did is just kind of the cherry on top."

His contract's up after this year, too, since I've already broached that subject.

• All hail the history involved:

• After everything Kasper Bjorkqvist's been through, he was richly deserving of a goal in his NHL debut. Looked strong and sturdy out there overall, too. Taylor Haase has that.

• It's hard to get caught up in the general strangeness of the game, with the Penguins having stormed to a 6-1 lead by the first intermission, and the Sharks having stormed back within 6-5 before Rodrigues' third goal, on the power play with 2:01 remaining. Really feels like nothing.

The Penguins were emerging from an unwanted 13-day break and, in my eyes, it was commendable that they came out the way they did, just floating on air as they flew by the Sharks on rushes and, in particular, on the transition.

As for the rest ...

"Anytime you get up that amount of goals early in the game, as a coaching staff, we're always concerned because there's so much hockey left to play," Sullivan said. "And to a certain extent, you're fighting against human nature. As much as you try to fend it off, it just seems like it's human nature to want to exhale, and you don't bring the same level of intensity."

From the San Jose perspective, it might be fair to point out that faceoff occurred at 10:08 a.m. Pacific time, but here's betting Bob Boughner wouldn't have it.

"We couldn't stop it," the Sharks' coach said. "We tried to call a timeout. We tried switching things up. It was ugly."

• I suppose, then, that the same forgiveness should apply to Casey DeSmith and his five goals on 27 shots, but man, he needs to stay in his crease. Every time he strayed, he might as well have used that big stick to poke a hornet's nest.

Besides, there are greater crimes in this game than being beaten on right-point blasts by Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson. My goodness, they both can still boom it.

• My eyes told me Mike Matheson was magnificent from front to finish, so imagine my delight when the data showed he was on the rink for 27 shot attempts for the Penguins at five-on-five, and just six for the Sharks.

Want to know what he did well?

Tap the big play button:

That. He did that really well. He's a human breakout. Ask poor Jonah Gadjovich.

• Drew O'Connor isn't looking like a goal waiting to happen. He's looking like a bunch of goals waiting to happen. Needs to quit trying to pick corners.

• Seven points behind the first-place Capitals with three games in hand?

With all these injuries and illnesses?

This is a damned good hockey team, Pittsburgh. And it's nowhere near its own peak yet.

• Thanks for reading, as always. I'll cover the Penguins' next two games, as well, Wednesday at home against the Blues, then Thursday in Philadelphia. But I'll be all football for the next 48 hours, as one might expect.