Just when it looked like the Pittsburgh Penguins were starting to get healthier and back to full strength, more injury news hit. The Penguins announced on Tuesday that forwards Evgeni Malkin and Blake Lizotte are being played on Injured Reserve.
They are significant injuries.
Both players are expected to be out on a “week-to-week” basis, according to the Penguins.
In Malkin’s case, he
has found an extra gear this season and already has 29 points in 26 games. He has been one of their top offensive players and in a lot of games has been a major difference-maker (Thursday night in Tampa Bay, for example).
Lizotte has been a key cog on the fourth line and a major part of the penalty kill.
In their place, Danton Heinen and Sam Poulin are coming back from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
It is obviously not ideal in the short-term given the potential the Malkin, Anthony Mantha and Justin Brazeau line has shown this season. Malkin’s absence comes just as Brazeau was making his return. Based on Sunday’s game, it is likely that Kevin Hayes will stay in that center spot.
Long-term, it’s probably not the worst thing for Malkin to not be playing 82 games and some time off might do him well. It still hurts the team in the short-term with some tough games ahead this month.
But it also might be an opportunity for other players on the team — specifically The Kid Line of Ben Kindel, Ville Koivunen and Rutger McGroarty.
With Malkin down and the second-line not really have anybody you can count on to drive it or drive offense, this seems like it would be a good opportunity to elevate the role of the Kindel line and allow it to serve as the “second line” for the time being.
The one thing first-year head coach Dan Muse has been really good about this season — and really effective with — is balancing out the ice-time and consistently rolling four lines, so on most nights there really has not been much difference in the ice-time between the first, second and third lines. There still has been a difference. On Sunday in Dallas, for example, The Kid Line played 9:51 during 5-on-5, which was the lowest of the Penguins’ four lines. They were extremely effective in those minutes, and have been since being put together.
It is a small sample size, but in 26 minutes together that trio has out-shot teams by a 15-3 margin and owns a 72.3 percent expected goal share. They also pass the eye test and have consistently caused havoc in the offensive zone.
Let them cook a little bit and see if they can turn that territorial advantage, as well as a slightly bigger role with more ice-time, into offense.
When Malkin is healthy and centering the second line I have absolutely no problem with the Kindel line playing the “third line” line role. It extends the lineup, and you should be looking at your third line as an additional scoring line anyway if you are trying to win. You need offense from that group. It has also been effective in its role. But when Malkin is not in the middle of Mantha and Brazeau I feel like that group does not really project as a top-six group. The Kindel line does, at least in terms of talent and playing style. I am not saying you need to overload their plates or play them for 15 minutes. Give them an extra shift or two. Bump them up in the rotation. Give them more of the offensive zone face-offs that would otherwise be going to Malkin.
Put them into situations where they can succeed, create chances and hopefully score. You are going to need some extra offense anyway.
