SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- The Penguins are losers of six in a row and, outside of getting Kris Letang and Jeff Petry back in the lineup relatively soon, don't have many apparent answers to their struggles on the horizon.
At times the Penguins have looked flat-out disinterested to utterly dysfunctional. That's all been magnified by a top-six that hasn't seen the puck end up in the back of the net as much during this recent stretch. When the top-six isn't carrying the team, you can almost guarantee it won't be a fruitful night.
In advance of their final game of the current road trip on Sunday against the Coyotes at Mullett Arena, the Penguins rocked the same forward lines at practice at the Ice Den in Scottsdale as they did in their 5-2 loss to the Golden Knights in Las Vegas Thursday night:
Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
Jason Zucker - Evgeni Malkin - Rickard Rakell
Danton Heinen - Jeff Carter - Kasperi Kapanen
Drew O'Connor - Teddy Blueger - Brock McGinn
"We’re trying to find people to make a difference for us," Mike Sullivan said after practice. "We’re moving people around the lineup. We’ve changed line combinations a number of different times, mixing up the bottom-six. We’ve tweaked the top-six. Some of it’s out of necessity with the injuries that we have, some of it is just looking for more consistency and more balanced production throughout our lineup."
Let's take a look at how each of the current forward lines have performed together this season at 5-on-5, courtesy of Natural Stat Trick.
Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
Ice time: 147:16
On-ice goals: 9-13 (40.9%)
On-ice expected goals: 8.4-5.7 (59.5%)
On-ice shot attempts: 177-139 (56%)
Didn't expect those possession numbers to look quite that strong, did you? Look, coming from one of the biggest proponents of playing Rakell with Crosby, Rust's placement on the first line has little to nothing to do with the Penguins' funk.
I've argued at various points over the past several seasons that Sullivan has left Rust on the first line for far longer than he should have through rough stretches, but this is not one of those times. Guentzel-Crosby-Rust has been the Penguins' best line over the past couple games, and it's not particularly close. Of course, they haven't been scoring, so everything feels like an utter disaster.
"I think they have the ability to control games. And they have for stretches in this last little while," Sullivan said. "They’re getting a number of scoring chances. The puck’s not going in the net for them as it usually does for them, but I think it’s a matter of time if they stay with it."
Rust has been the scapegoat of this line surrendering 13 goals during their time together this season, but outside of an isolated play or two, I don't think that's fair at all. Penguins goaltenders have allowed seven goals more than expected based on the quality of chances they've faced with the first line out there. If that number's even cut in half, we're likely having a much different discussion about their effectiveness.
Guentzel needs to rediscover his scoring touch, but this line has mostly played well and isn't the issue right now.
Jason Zucker - Evgeni Malkin - Rickard Rakell
Ice time: 124:16
On-ice goals: 8-6 (57.1%)
On-ice expected goals: 7.2-5.8 (55.6%)
On-ice shot attempts: 129-123 (51.2%)
I thoroughly disliked what I saw when Malkin and Rakell played together last season. They really seemed to not read off each other well and just couldn't put together many positive offensive-zone sequences. This year, however, they've been much better together. Again coming from one of the biggest proponents of playing Rakell with Crosby, the crying and moaning about it has got to stop. You'd think the entire top-six, as currently constructed, was spending every waking second chasing the puck around in the defensive zone every single game. That's not what's been happening. Far from it.
Do I think the top-six would be more effective with Rust and Rakell swapped? Yes. Do I think the difference is as grand as you'd be led to believe from scrolling Twitter? Absolutely not.
Zucker's performance this season has been a godsend, particularly for Malkin, as he's been able to drive play at both ends of the ice to a significant degree. You'd like to see him score a little more, but if the personnel remains the same for the second line, they'll be just fine, as they have been for most of their time together this season.
Danton Heinen - Jeff Carter - Kasperi Kapanen
Ice time: 55:49
On-ice goals: 4-2 (66.7%)
On-ice expected goals: 3.4-3.0 (53%)
On-ice shot attempts: 65-60 (52%)
The third line has been terrible most of the season. It's not entirely his fault, but a major reason why is that Carter hasn't just been the Penguins' worst player, he's been one of the least impactful skaters in the entire NHL. It's abundantly clear that he's no longer suited to play center, as the defensive and transition responsibilities have been far too much for him to handle.
Kapanen has been as streaky as streaky gets this season, but he's producing 5-on-5 points at the second-best rate on the team. The Penguins can absolutely live with that, but he still hasn't been positively impacting possession. He needs a play-driver up the middle, and that's not Carter.
Heinen hasn't scored since October, and while I believe he's much better than he's shown during that time, the fact remains that he's been nowhere near good enough.
All that said, this trio has actually performed better than any other third-line trio that's been trotted out by Sullivan this season. It's a small sample at less than an hour of work together, but they've kept their heads above water in goals, expected goals and shots. You'd like to see it be to a greater degree, but at least they aren't getting cratered.
If Carter's going to remain at center, these are the only two wingers I see fit to flank him. However, something must be done to address this line. It's not the third line of a contender.
Drew O'Connor - Teddy Blueger - Brock McGinn
Ice time: 8:00
On-ice goals: 0-0 (0%)
On-ice expected goals: 0.02-0.16 (9.8%)
On-ice shot attempts: 2-9 (18.2%)
At only eight minutes of ice time, there's not a whole lot of substance to work with here, but they did not have a good showing in their first game together. I think O'Connor deserves considerably more ice time than he's been given in limited opportunities since being recalled, if nothing else for the speed and youthful energy he brings that's been sorely lacking in other parts of the lineup.
McGinn has scored his fair share of goals this season, but that's destined to dry up sooner or later as many of them have come off the rush, which just isn't a very sustainable trait for a bottom-six winger.
The bigger concern I have is that Blueger hasn't been very good at full-strength this season (which is probably the reason why Carter is still the third-line center). Blueger has one goal in 23 games. Even if his defensive impact was at the level he's achieved in recent seasons (it's not), one goal in 23 games isn't good enough.
"I think part of it has to do with confidence, and the way you build that is through work and kind of grinding it out sometimes," Blueger said. "Maybe get a couple ugly ones, then give yourself a little more freedom to try and make more plays. Sometimes teams force it a little bit, the cross-ice seam passes, the saucing, those are getting picked off, so I think simplifying and just making it difficult for the other team’s goalie."
I'll need a heck of a lot more than eight minutes of ice time for a verdict on this trio, but I believe they have the potential to be an effective fourth line, though nowhere near the degree of the shutdown line of old that contained Blueger, Zach Aston-Reese and Brandon Tanev.
MORE FROM PRACTICE
• Ryan Poehling has missed five of the Penguins' last six games with a nagging upper-body injury. Even though he skated with the team in a regular contact jersey twice in Las Vegas, Poehling did not hit the ice for practice on Saturday in Scottsdale. Sullivan said he remains day-to-day and that it's unlikely he will play on Sunday against the Coyotes.
• Petry is still on long-term injured reserve with an injury to his left wrist/arm. He has been skating with Ty Hennes throughout the week, and did so again on Saturday, but has yet to re-join the team for practice. He is eligible to be activated from long-term injured reserve, but it appears as if that will have to wait a bit longer.
• The defense pairings at practice were also the same as Thursday night in Las Vegas:
Marcus Pettersson - Jan Rutta
Brian Dumoulin - Ty Smith
P.O Joseph - Chad Ruhwedel
Mark Friedman rotated in, suggesting he will be a healthy scratch for the second consecutive game on Sunday.
• The Penguins' power-play units remained unchanged during practice ...
PP1: Crosby, Guentzel, Rakell, Malkin, Smith
PP2: Carter, Rust, Zucker, Kapanen, Joseph
• "Sometimes you go through stretches like that," Blueger said of the current six-game skid. "It’s all about how you bounce back. The focus is shifting more towards that and responding the right way, trying to build something positive here and get things going in the right direction."
• I was surprised to see a decent-sized group of Penguins fans at the Ice Den in Scottsdale for practice. Among them was a group of energetic youngsters who went absolutely berserk midway through practice when Crosby received a pass between his legs before racing down and beating Dustin Tokarski upstairs with a blistering snap shot.
• Carter was rocking a fresh haircut at practice. His curly flow is no more.
• The Penguins will not hold a morning skate at Mullett Arena on Sunday, and Sullivan will not have a pregame availability. Penguins PR will share the starting goaltender with the media a couple hours before puck drop. I'll have your coverage for the last game of this three-game road trip. Puck drops at 7:08 p.m Eastern.
