Penguins Must Reunite Top Stars on First Line

The Pittsburgh Penguins need to get their best players back on track.

Nov 11, 2024; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby (87) and center Evgeni Malkin (71) react on the ice against the Dallas Stars during the third period at PPG Paints Arena. / Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

The Pittsburgh Penguins are 6-2-1 since the day before Thanksgiving, which has propelled them back to the middle of the Eastern Conference standings. Miraculously, they've done so without many contributions from their top two stars.

Penguins' captain Sidney Crosby has gone nine games without scoring a goal. Meanwhile, Evgeni Malkin has just one goal in his past 16 games.

While it's nice to see the Penguins succeed despite their best players' struggles, it's entirely unsustainable.

Since November 27th, Pittsburgh leads the NHL in shooting percentage, converting on 14.8 percent of their shots on goal. The league average this season sits at 10.6 percent. Eventually, they will regress towards that number. When that happens, the Penguins need Crosby and Malkin to step up.

Perhaps the best way to ignite those two would be to reunite them on the top line.

Head coach Mike Sullivan paired Crosby and Malkin earlier this season, resulting in the former's best stretch of games. Crosby scored nine points (5G-4A) in six games alongside his longtime teammate. Malkin scored four points (2G-2A) during that time.

This adjustment doesn't come without risk. Having Malkin and Crosby on the same line puts tremendous pressure on the rest of the lineup. However, newcomers Cody Glass and Blake Lizotte have played exceptionally well since returning from their respective injuries and could both likely handle increased responsibility.

Despite only scoring one goal, Glass still has a high offensive pedigree as a first-round selection in 2017 and has generated quality looks on multiple lines throughout this season.

Meanwhile, Lizotte has scored a point per game since returning to the lineup, including five goals during that nine-game stretch. He has proven capable of playing third-line minutes, and the Penguins have several options (Noel Acciari, Drew O'Connor, Kevin Hayes, etc.) to fill his position on the fourth line.

This team survived a horrible start to the season and has found ways to win over the past few weeks. But if they can't find a way to get Crosby and Malkin on track and scoring goals, they'll fall back to the basement of the division standings and out of playoff contention.

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