We need to talk about how good the Penguins' top line of Jake Guentzel, Evgeni Malkin, and Bryan Rust was on Friday night in the Penguins' 4-1 win over the Devils.
Before we break out the film, let's just look at the numbers, because they're outstanding.
At five-on-five, the top line was far and away the most successful at getting off shot attempts and preventing the Devils' attempts. The top line was on the ice for 12:52 of five-on-five time. In that time, the Penguins attempted 17 shots to the Devils' nine, for a Corsi For percentage of 65.38. The next best in that regard was the fourth line, at 52.94 percent. That's a significant difference. In total, the Penguins' Corsi For percentage was 14.66 higher with the top line on the ice compared to any other five-on-five situation when they were not on the ice.
Of those shot attempts, none of the 17 that were attempted when the top line was on the ice were blocked. Of the Devils' nine attempts, four were blocked and didn't reach the net -- one by Malkin, one by Rust.
Looking at the actual shots on goal numbers, the dominance of the top line was even more evident. When the top line was on the ice at five-on-five, the Penguins recorded 14 shots on goal and only allowed four, for a percentage of 77.78 for. That's a figure that's 25.51 percent better than when the top line was not on the ice.
We can narrow that down even more to just look at only shots on goal that were genuine scoring chances. That's using the following definition:
- In the low danger zone, unblocked rebounds and rush shots only.
- In the medium danger zone, all unblocked shots.
- In the high danger zone, all shot attempts.
Using that criteria, when the top line was on the ice the Penguins registered 11 scoring chances and allowed only one. One! That's a percentage of 91.67 scoring chances in their favor, which is 45.24 percent higher than the team with any other line.
One of those scoring chances produced a pretty incredible goal.
Rust sent a rolling puck to Malkin, and Malkin one-timed the puck straight up to an open Guentzel:
"Just a great play by Rusty to get to him," Guentzel said of the play. "Then Geno found me. Almost lost it there, but it's nice to get that one."
Guentzel finished it off with a backhand tuck past MacKenzie Blackwood, who is probably still trying to figure out what happened:
"I kind of changed my plans when I lost the puck a little bit," Guentzel said of his goal. "Just try to do a little backhand, forehand then backhand. Glad it worked out."
"Just kind of a cluster when you lose the puck like that on a breakaway," he continued. " ... (The backhand) was not (the plan). Go to the forehand. But it worked."
Yeah, it did:
That goal was the product of the chemistry that line had been showing all game.
"They're three good players," Mike Sullivan said of the line's success. "All three of them are real good players. Rusty brings a little bit of a different dimension with his speed than the other two guys. The other two guys have elite hockey sense. There's some chemistry there. They're all good players, they all bring a little something different to that line that can help it be effective.
"I think they're dangerous off the rush, they're dangerous off the cycle game," Sullivan continued. "I think Rusty's speed brings a whole different dimension to the line, both in puck pursuit and forcing turnovers, but also just his defensive conscience as well. Jake is a great goal scorer, Geno is a hell of a playmaker. The combination I think just makes sense."
That combination will likely stick as the top line for the foreseeable future until Sidney Crosby returns, after which Guentzel will almost surely be reunited with Crosby. If this line can keep clicking like this in the meantime, it's going to be tough to see them broken up.
