O'Connor makes his top-six case in 'very effective' way to beat Flyers

PHILADELPHIA -- The Penguins made one tweak to their line combinations entering Monday's game against the Flyers here at Wells Fargo Center.

Mike Sullivan swapped his two middle-six left wingers, promoting Drew O'Connor to the second line left wing alongside Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust, and moving Reilly Smith down to the third line left wing with Lars Eller and Valtteri Puustinen. 

It paid off. Both lines seemed to benefit from the swap in the Penguins' 4-1 victory over the Flyers, but the highlight from the change might have been O'Connor's impact on the second line.

O'Connor's making the case to keep him up on Malkin's wing for the long haul moving forward.

This game isn't the first time O'Connor has been on Malkin's wing this season, but it has been when injury wasn't a factor. He earned time at right wing alongside Malkin when Rust was injured, with Smith playing on the opposite wing. But this game was the first time this season that O'Connor was bumped up solely on merit, and it was the first time that he, Malkin and Rust were together as a trio.

Malkin's line was the best the Penguins had at five-on-five. They were on the ice together at the same time for a total of 9:08. In that time the Penguins led in shot attempts 18-8 (69.23%), unblocked shot attempts 14-5 (73.68%), high-danger attempts 7-0 (100%), shots on goal 10-3 (76.92%), expected goals 1.1-0.18 (86.04%) and goals 2-0. Every single one of those measures led the team.

O'Connor alone played 14:25 at five-on-five. His four shots on goal led the team in five-on-five shots, and every one of them was a high-danger shot. 

The first goal that line was on the ice for was Chad Ruhwedel's goal in the second period to put the Penguins up 3-1 after previous goals from Rickard Rakell and Erik Karlsson. O'Connor didn't show up on the scoresheet for Ruhwedel's first of the year, but that's him at the net front providing a screen and tying up the Flyers defenseman:

O'Connor had the primary helper on the fourth and final goal, setting up Malkin for this shot from the right circle:

"We had a good play," O'Connor told me of the goal. "(Malkin) just gave it to me wide, was just trying to take him wide, the defenseman. He didn't really have it so I just curled up and found a lane there. (Malkin) took it and had a great shot."

O'Connor said it was a "weird game" settling in with his new linemates because of all the special teams play. The Penguins had six power plays -- five coming in the first period alone -- and the Flyers had two. There just wasn't much five-on-five time to start the game. But as they finally got time to play together, O'Connor thought they fared well.

"We did some good things, had some good possession, scored a couple of goals," O'Connor said. "It was good."

Jeff Carter, the previous recipient of the team's MVP Jofa helmet, apparently agreed. He chose O'Connor as the recipient after this win, lauding O'Connor "mucking it up" after the whistles in such a chippy game, and mentioning that he was "flying all night."

The timing of the change to the lines makes sense. Smith has four assists in his last eight games, three of which came at even strength. Going back over the last two months, dating back to Nov. 7, Smith has just been pretty cold. He has two goals and seven assists in those 28 games, with both goals and four of the assists coming at even strength. 

While the Smith-Eller-Puustinen line didn't record any points in the game, they were at least helping to maintain good momentum. In the 8:25 they were on the ice together at five on five, the Penguins recorded nine unblocked shot attempts to the Flyers' five (64.29%) and led in shots 7-4 (63.64%). No goals were scored in either direction while they were together.

O'Connor was a natural choice to get promoted to Malkin's wing in Smith's place. There's now a decent sample size to look at over the course of the season for Malkin's five-on-five time without O'Connor (409:22) and with O'Connor (139:07). When Malkin has O'Connor on his wing, the Penguins average 33.21 shots on goal per 60 minutes and allow 25.87 against. With Malkin but without O'Connor on the ice, the Penguins average 30.49 shots on goal for and 29.9 against. O'Connor with Malkin has led to better results on both sides of the puck, and that translates to goals. With Malkin and O'Connor together the Penguins have outscored opponents 9-3 (75). With Malkin but without O'Connor the Penguins have been outscored 15-19 (44.12%).

Sullivan said that O'Connor brings a "different look" to that line, is playing well and gaining confidence in that role. But he also thinks that O'Connor is gaining a better understanding of how the Penguins expect him to play, and that's led to this success and a well-deserved increased role.

"When OC is playing a straight ahead, north-south game, he's using his speed, he's taking defenseman wide, he's playing behind defenseman and getting in on the forecheck, he's a very effective player," Sullivan said.

It's not just that, either. Sullivan sees that O'Connor's better understanding extends to his play defensively and when he's on the penalty-kill, too. He's improved on both sides of the puck.

"His awareness away from the puck, he's much more conscientious," Sullivan said. "When you combine that with the speed he brings, in the north south game, and you utilize his size and his reach, I think he can be a very effective player."

O'Connor can play all three positions. He's a natural center, and played the position in college and in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. But the Penguins' coaching staff has long been clear about preferring him on the wing at the NHL level. He has the versatility to play both wings as well as center, and can fit in throughout the lineup, whether he's in a top-six role or a bottom-six role. He can move anywhere in forward lines depending where the Penguins need him, but his impact on Malkin's line specifically is hard to ignore.

"When he plays with Geno's line, Geno now has two guys on his flanks that are fast and they play a north-south game," Sullivan said. "I think both Rusty and OC excel at the puck pursuit game, and so I think that drags Geno into the fight a little bit down in the offensive zone. Geno is very capable of creating offense different ways, he's a dynamic player as there is off the rush, but trying to establish an end zone game or grind games with OC and Rusty, I think they're they're going to drag him into that a little bit."

That can lead to that line creating offense in different ways, in different situations. 

The Penguins could sure use some of that. If this O'Connor-Rust pairing sparks Malkin moving forward like the way it did tonight, that could go a long way.

O'Connor needs to get a real, long look on that second line moving forward. He's earned it and shown that he can play there.

GETTY

Evgeni Malkin skates with the puck Monday night in Philadelphia

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule

THE HIGHLIGHTS

THE THREE STARS

As selected at Wells Fargo Center:

1. Evgeni Malkin, Penguins C
2. Rickard Rakell, Penguins RW
3. Owen Tippett, Flyers LW

THE IN-GAME INJURIES

• Penguins: None

• Flyers: None

THE LINEUPS

Sullivan’s lines and pairings:

Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Rickard Rakell
Drew O'Connor - Evgeni Malkin - Bryan Rust
Reilly Smith - Lars Eller - Valtteri Puustinen
Jansen Harkins - Noel Acciari - Jeff Carter

Marcus Pettersson - Kris Letang
P.O Joseph - Erik Karlsson
Ryan Graves - Chad Ruhwedel

And for John Tortorella's Flyers:

Joel Farabee - Sean Couturier - Travis Konecny
Owen Tippett - Scott Laughton - Cam Atkinson
Tyson Foerster - Morgan Frost - Bobby Brink
Nick Deslauriers - Ryan Poehling - Garnet Hathaway

Cam York - Travis Sanheim
Nick Seeler - Sean Walker
Egor Zamula - Rasmus Ristolainen

THE SCHEDULE

The Penguins have a scheduled day off Tuesday. They'll be back to work for an 11 a.m. practice in Cranberry on Wednesday. Next game is against the Canucks at home on Thursday.

THE FEED

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