Mike Sullivan makes major shakeup to Penguins lines

The prevailing thought amongst most Pittsburgh Penguins fans, players and management was that after general manager Ron Hextall managed to pull the rabbit out of his hat and re-sign both Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letting as well as Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell, they'd be right back in the thick of things in the Eastern Conference and ready to make one more run at a Stanley Cup win.

But it's been anything except a frustrating start to the season for the Penguins, who after dropping their latest gamer last night by a 5-2 final score at home at the hands of the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs, currently sit second to last in the Metropolitan Division with a pedestrian 6-7-3 record.

And head coach Mike Sullivan has decided to toss his line combinations in a blender in an effort to give them a jolt. The top line of Sidney Crosby alongside Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust has been broken up; Crosby is now skating alongside Jake Guentzel and Rickard Rakell, while Rust practiced on a line with Jason Zucker and Malkin.

“We try to find combinations that can have success,” he said. “We’ve got options at our disposal. We talk about these things daily, depending on how the team is playing, certain lines are playing, certain people are playing.

“Sometimes, if you make little tweaks or adjustments here and there, you can, as a coaching staff, try to be proactive to see if we can’t effect some positive change with everybody. We’re looking at all of our options. We’ll make decisions accordingly.”

According to Crosby, it's a combination that's enjoyed success in the past, and has a chance to do so again. 

“We all know each other’s strengths,” Crosby said. “(Rakell) has a great shot, can see the ice really well. Both combinations have had success, so it doesn’t really matter.”

The Penguins take on the Minnesota Wild tomorrow night at XCel Energy Center.