Michel Therrien Hits Panic Button, Unites Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby

If you had October 17th in the "when will Michel Therrien put Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby on the same line" pool, you may now collect your winnings. After last nights come-from-ahead loss against Washington, which saw the Penguins blow a 3-0 lead and get dominated for the final 30 minutes of play, Therrien has decided the time is right to shake up his forward lines.

From Dave Molinari of the Post-Gazette:

Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin will be linemates when the Penguins face Toronto Saturday night at Mellon Arena. Coach Michel Therrien had Crosby between Malkin and Pascal Dupuis during practice at Southpointe Friday. Also, Therrien overhauled all of his forward lines. The rest look like this: Ruslan Fedotenko - Jordan Staal - Petr Sykora; Miroslav Satan - Max Talbot - Tyler Kennedy; Paul Bissonnette - Bill Thomas - Eric Godard.

Of course, as drastic as this may seem after only five games, you probably shouldn't read too much into it. Therrien changes his line combinations slightly more often than he changes his underwear (and I'm hoping that's everyday), so by the time the first period of Saturday's game ends we could be watching an entirely different grouping of forwards.

Then again, It does illustrate, at least somewhat, that the Penguins top-six wingers aren't getting the job done in the eyes of the coaching staff.

Personally, I've never been a fan of putting the two superstars together, as I think the Penguins are a better team when each guy is "the man" on his own line. So, even if it's a short-term band-aid on what may be a long-term problem, I don't like it. Unless of course they score six goals on Saturday night. Then I love it.