Typically when you think of line dominance, you think of line one. In the case of the Pittsburgh Penguins, it runs much deeper than that, and it is needed.
The Pittsburgh Penguins do rely on the top to bottom performances from there forward lines. When digging into the season and looking beyond (aka the playoffs), you will find that domineering performances from line two have powered the Penguins. Top performances from all four lines will be crucial, but line two (Geno’s line) tops the charts.
You don’t have to look any further than stats to see the productivity from Evgeni Malkin and his linemates. Both he and Bryan Rust lead the Penguins in points, and new boy Jason Zucker is taking the role by the horns since his arrival. Traditionally, line two is the turning point between the top-6 and the top-9 forwards. The Penguins are fortunate because their second line has all top-3 guys.
Every prediction, including ours, has ‘Geno’s line’ compiled with Malkin, Zucker, and Rust. Why mess up a good thing? It was bright and evident that earlier in the season, Sullivan wanted to help out Geno and put solid forwards around him. Well, it worked out, and not only has he benefitted, but so has the rest of the team.
Pittsburgh Penguins: The importance of ‘Geno’s line’ in the playoffs
Moving on into the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and you find that the matchups, on paper, just aren’t there when you pit the Penguins next to the Canadiens. Although they cannot take this matchup lightly, all four lines should see success in the qualifying round.
Once you get passed Montreal’s top line, the talent runs thin. Geno and the boys will have to extort that mismatch to sure up and already sure thing. In this case, it will be two-fold. One, to keep the pressure off on Sid’s line if needed and two, provide and a nice transition into line three and ‘Teddy’s line.’
As we said at the top, all lines will be critical in this best of five series, but the matchups and styles of play on line two will quickly let us know how the series will go. This year is already going to be a banner year for Evgeni Malkin, now he and his line need to prove it where it counts.