The Pittsburgh Penguins aren’t wasting any time shaking up their lineup in the Stanley Cup final.
Penguins head coach Michel Therrien has made changes to every line, including that of superstar captain Sidney Crosby, following Saturday’s ugly 4-0 loss to the Detroit Red Wings in Game 1.
Game 2 is tonight at 8 in Detroit.
Crosby, who had three shots and a minus-1 rating on Saturday, will have Ryan Malone on his left wing instead of Pascal Dupuis. Sniper Marian Hossa stays on the right side.
Malone, who had skated with Evgeni Malkin and Petr Sykora, has been replaced by Maxime Talbot. Dupuis goes to the third line with Jordan Staal and Tyler Kennedy, while veteran Gary Roberts will return to the lineup on the fourth line.
“We’ve done it (changed lines) all season, so I don’t think it’s a huge deal,” Crosby said in a press conference yesterday. “I don’t think anybody’s role changes when they change lines. It’s just different looks and sometimes it depends on who coach wants to play certain lines against and how they match up.”
Crosby said he is happy with his matchup against Detroit’s top line of Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg.
“I wouldn’t change anything, to be honest,” Crosby said. “We had our chances and we didn’t put them in. I don’t think they did a whole lot to shut us down completely.”
Therrien said Game 1 was Pittsburgh’s “worst performance of the playoffs” but is hopeful the line changes will help.
“Every team has to make adjustments through the course of the playoffs,” Therrien explained. “We believe those adjustments are going to help us to get success.”
