Penguins have '3-headed monster' at center

UNIONDALE, N.Y. — The Pittsburgh Penguins’ two-headed monster hasn’t been slain. Far from it.

But it’s been in hibernation through the first three games of their first-round series with the New York Islanders.

Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin — long dubbed as a dual-craniumed leviathan at the center position for the Penguins — are no threats to set any kind of scoring records this series.

A stout Islanders defense has limited Crosby to a single goal, and Malkin missed the first two games of the series because of a wonky right knee. Making his series debut in Game 3 on Thursday, Malkin picked up two primary assists in a 5-4 win at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

They’ve been more than adequate when they’ve been on the ice. But not overwhelming as in years past.

Thankfully, for the Penguins, they have hailed hydra.

With Malkin back on the ice for Game 3, Jeff Carter slid down the depth chart to the third line and came through with two important goals that each stifled temporary momentum shifts in favor of the Islanders.

His goal at 13 minutes, 34 seconds of the second period gave the Penguins a 2-1 lead less than two minutes after the Islanders had tied the score.

Then, a power-play score at 7:00 of the third — the Penguins’ first goal on the man advantage this series — restored a lead for the visitors, 4-3, again, less than two minutes after the Islanders had forced a tie.

“With the Penguins — the three-headed monster that they have when Malkin plays — at center ice, they’re pretty loaded,” Islanders coach Barry Trotz said via video conference. “You’re going to have two hall of famers and one that’s pretty close up the middle. Two of them are big, and one of them is very, very strong and very intelligent. They’re a three-headed monster when all three lines are going.”

The Penguins have had such menacing set-ups down the middle before.

The presences of Jordan Staal (2009) and Nick Bonino (2016, ’17) were significant factors for the franchise’s three most recent Stanley Cup banners.

In their absences, the Penguins have tried the likes of Brandon Sutter, Derick Brassard, Nick Bjugstad and even Greg McKegg to serve as the third center but never achieved anything close to the same level of success.

Arguably, Carter might be better than Staal or Bonino, team success with the Penguins notwithstanding.

A two-time All-Star who has won the Stanley Cup twice as a member of the Los Angeles Kings, Carter has 399 career regular-season goals, 10th-most among active players. Oh, and he also has a 16.6-ounce hunk of gold he won as a member of Canada’s Olympic team in 2014.

Even at 36, he’s still capable of being a steady second-liner. But for the time being, he’s a dominant third-liner.

“To have the depth that we have at this point with (Carter) in the middle now, we think we have a pretty balanced attack,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “On any given night, any line can score. Any line can help us offensively. And we have lines that we can utilize in different situations depending on what’s called upon throughout the course of the game. (Carter’s) addition has been huge to our team. It just gives us that much more depth down the middle.”

The Penguins’ plans on where to use Carter when they acquired him from the Kings on April 12 for a handful of draft picks weren’t immediately clear. At least not publicly. Or to Carter.

Having spent the majority of his time with the Kings this season on the right wing, Carter wasn’t quite sure how the Penguins would deploy him.

“I didn’t really know where I was going to fit in coming in,” Carter said. “Whether it was wing, center, whatnot. But I think as I’ve settled in and played with some different lines and whatnot, I’ve really enjoyed my role. For the most part, I’ve been with (wingers Jared McCann and Frederick Gaudreau). We work well together and can bring some complementary scoring to those top two lines.”

Management always planned on moving Carter to center but was open to all possibilities.

“Our intent was to play him at center and see how that goes but understanding that he’s a real versatile player that we could utilize in so many different ways,” Sullivan said. “Whether we put him on the wing and potentially in the top-six (forwards) depending on certain circumstances or playing that third-line center role that is so vitally important to this team and its success. But our intent was to try him at the center ice position. We were intrigued by moving him in the middle. We thought it would make us that much deeper at the center position.”

Even beyond scoring, Carter has made an impact on defense as he is tied for the team lead with 10 defensive-zone starts during five-on-five sequences this postseason according to Natural Stat Trick. That type of figure is usually an indicator of how much a coach trusts a player in his own zone.

Furthermore, Carter has been dominant in the faceoff circle, winning 62.3% of his draws (33 for 53), tops on the team.

“He’s a natural center,” Sullivan said. “He’s played it most of his career. We were well aware of what his strength is there. He’s a really good faceoff guy. And he’s just a real smart player so he could play at both ends of the rink.

“It helps us with our size, our strength down the middle.”

The effect has been monstrous.

“They’re all unbelievable players,” Penguins forward Jason Zucker said. “They’re all world-class talents. For us, we just want to make sure that we’re rolling four lines and using that to our advantage.”

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