...And The Therrien Shuffle Continues

Matt Bodenschatz | Pittsburgh Penguins

Oct 12, 09:04 AM | Hype this story!

According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Penguins coach Michel Therrien has, once again, switched his forward lines.

Surprising.

One notable change is the Georges Laraque pulled his groin early in Wednesday’s game, so Jarkko Ruutu has filled in for him and could do the same tomorrow night

The Lines
1. Mark Recchi – Sidney Crosby – Petr Sykora
Apparently Sykora’s one-game scoring drought was evidence that he has no chemistry with Evgeni Malkin, despite a three-point night last Saturday.

2. Jordan Staal – Evgeni Malkin – Ryan Malone
Malone playing the right side for the first time in his NHL career? Plus, that’s an awfully big first line in comparison to an awfully small first line. Some balance might be nice.

3. Gary Roberts – Maxime Talbot – Colby Armstrong
Finally a line worth discussing. Talbot is fierce, and rarely lets up. He needs to see more icetime, and this will allow that to happen.

4. Jarkko Ruutu – Erik Christensen – Adam Hall
And we’re back to Christensen wasting away on the fourth line with grinders. Wouldn’t the team be better off with a grinding, faceoff specialist at center than a non-physical sniper who goes into extreme slumps? Just a thought.

The defense has remained the same
1. Mark Eaton – Sergei Gonchar
2. Brooks Orpik – Ryan Whitney
3. Rob Scuderi – Darryl Sydor

As mentioned yesterday, Alain Nasreddine has been sent to the AHL for a temporary conditioning assignment. He has not yet played a game this season.

And in goal…
1. Marc-Andre Fleury
2. Dany Sabourin

Comments

  1. DaBich

    Oct 12, 09:08 AM

    I’m hoping SOMETHING starts clicking for these guys!!

  2. Bryan

    Oct 12, 04:24 PM

    I’ve been saying since the first game that Talbot needs more ice time. He’s a spark plug and this team feeds off of his energy. He’s one of the few players who have played well consistently so far this season. I love that third line because of how they are just gonna ‘f people up.

    Malone playing out of position doesn’t sit well with me, but I don’t think Coach Therrien would put him there if he didn’t think he could do it. Malone’s problem in past years was consistency, mostly caused by the fact that he was thinking too much and not simply reacting. I don’t think playing in a position that he never has before is going to help that at all.

    Christensen is not a fourth line player, but come to think of it he’s not a third line player either. I don’t know where they should put him. He’s a guy whose skills merit a top six role, but it’s never going to happen on this team if he can’t make the move to wing. He’d be in and out of the lineup if he wasn’t as close to automatic as it comes on the shootout.

  3. Matt Bodenschatz

    Oct 12, 09:08 PM

    Thanks for the comments! I tend to agree with everything you say, Bryan. Talbot is a sparkplug. He’s a guy who really can change the game. Malone, realistically, is a third line kinda guy, and Christensen is a second line type guy, though he is horrible along the boards.

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