Late in the second period of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 3-2 road win against the Florida Panthers on Saturday, the Penguins switched their top two lines.

Patric Hornqvist moved to the right wing of Sidney Crosby’s line, and Jared McCann slotted down to the left wing of Evgeni Malkin’s line. That prompted Dominik Simon to move from the right of Crosby to the left, and Bryan Rust moved from the left to right of Malkin.

Those alterations remained in place during Monday’s practice in Cranberry and figure to be utilized for Tuesday’s home game against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Crosby has played substantially with Hornqvist and Simon in the past, and Malkin and Rust have been linemates on and off over the past six seasons.

The conglomeration of McCann with Malkin and Rust is fairly untested, however.

According to Natural Stat Trick, McCann has logged 77 minutes, 13 seconds of common five-on-five ice time with Rust this season and 50:18 with Malkin

In contrast, McCann has skated 287:22 with Dominik Kahun, who hasn’t played since Jan. 19 because of a concussion.

The wingers certainly seem intrigued at the prospect of skating regularly with Malkin.

“We had some pretty good shifts,” Rust said of Saturday’s game. “We had some shifts where we’re buzzing a little bit in the (offensive) zone. But I think a few of our shifts, we might have been able to get the puck too a little bit more. We need to look to do that.”

McCann has been lined up with Crosby regularly in the year-plus since he joined the Penguins. McCann identified common traits between the two franchise centers.

“I haven’t really played much with (Malkin), but I feel like they their have similarities skillwise,” McCann said. “Obviously, they can create chances and kind of turn the game for that. I want to be a part of that. I’ve been given the opportunity right now to play with them both. I’m just going to have to take advantage of it.”

McCann and Rust aren’t shy about shooting the puck. But there’s only one puck on the ice.

“I think we’ll be able to find balance,” Rust said with a laugh. “We’ve got a guy in the middle who can make some world-class plays (and) also likes to shoot the puck himself, too. It’s just one of those things that our line is going to have the opportunity to make some plays. But when we all have chances to shoot, we have to take it.

“McCann’s a guy who can shoot the puck a million miles per hour. He can make really good plays, too. Anytime you have a guy like that who can use his speed to create that space. And he can also finish off plays when space is created for him.”

More shuffling

The fourth line displayed a different look in practice, as well, with a new player on the right wing.

Forward Andrew Agozzino, a healthy scratch for the past three games, worked on the right wing in place of rookie Anthony Angello.

Agozzino was joined by Alex Galchenyuk at left wing and Sam Lafferty.

“These are big games you want to be a part of,” Agozzino said. “It’s exciting to get back in to try and contribute and be a positive factor and to win.”

Agozzino is expected to play center Tuesday. He has appeared in 10 games this season and has one assist. He professes there is little difference between center or wing for him.

“I’ve played back and forth for my whole pro career,” said Agozzino, who has served as a linemate with Lafferty in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton over the past two seasons. “I’ve kind of split, 50-50. After the faceoff, hockey’s hockey. If you’re the first (forward) back, you have to assume the position of centerman. Sam and I have played together to read off one another so I don’t think it should be an issue.”

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