Clearly, the second line of Evgeni Malkin, Carl Hagelin and Bryan Rust was the Penguins' best in Saturday's 5-3 win over the Maple Leafs at PPG Paints Arena. Kind of hard to argue against any trio that garners eight combined points.
Just don't discount the role of the fourth line -- no, seriously -- in the Penguins' 11th straight home win. You know the line we're talking about: Ryan Reaves, Dominik Simon and, more specifically, Carter Rowney.
Rowney has become a popular whipping boy -- and deservedly so -- among fans and media who openly pine for Jim Rutherford to land a bottom-six center before the NHL's Feb. 26 trade deadline. It was Rowney's line that was on the ice for Tyler Bozak's first-period goal that gave Toronto a 2-1 lead. Granted, Matt Murray -- for the first time in a long time -- kicked out a big rebound for a soft goal. And when Patrick Marleau's second-period power play goal evened the score at 3-3 at 15:46 of the second period? Yep, it was Rowney out there for that one, too.
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