Penguins notebook: Nick Bjugstad puts emphasis on scoring ugly goals in crunch time

Conventional wisdom suggests once a hockey season reaches its latter stages, goals get uglier. Instead of fancy plays off the rush, teams usually score on greasy plays around the net.

Pittsburgh Penguins center Nick Bjugstad, apparently, has taken this philosophy to heart.

Coming into Sunday’s matchup with the Carolina Hurricanes, Bjugstad had goals in back-to-back games on bang-bang plays in and around the blue paint.

In New York last Monday, he swatted in the rebound of a Marcus Pettersson point shot as he fell to the ice at the left post. Against Nashville on Friday, he stepped out from behind the net and jammed a puck past goalie Pekka Rinne.

“It gets to the point where teams are so stingy on defense and always in position, you’ve got to create in ways that aren’t happening at the beginning of the year,” Bjugstad said. “It’s a little more open at the beginning of the year. Everyone kind of buckles down when you get close to the playoffs.”

Bjugstad said his goal is to get even better at creating ugly net-front chances down the stretch and into the playoffs.

“I know I can do a better job of taking goalies’ eyes away, tipping pucks, coming up with those rebounds,” he said. “That’s where it’s gotta happen. That’s where they start to trickle in, if you’re getting chances there.”

Injury report

Evgeni Malkin (upper body), Kris Letang (upper body), Chad Ruhwedel (upper body) and Zach Aston-Reese (lower body) remain out with injuries, but all skated Sunday morning, coach Mike Sullivan said.

Shuffled up

Sullivan shuffled his second and third lines for Sunday’s game. Bjugstad moved up to second-line center between Dominik Simon and Phil Kessel, and Teddy Blueger dropped to the third line with Jared McCann and Patric Hornqvist on his wings.

The moves provided a shake-up for a team that had 14 goals over its previous seven games. It also raised some questions about where Malkin will slide into the lineup once he returns.

If Malkin takes Blueger’s spot with McCann and Hornqvist, the Penguins will have the balanced, three-line attack they used in the 2016 playoffs.

If he takes Bjugstad’s spot, he would be reunited with Kessel on a loaded second line.

When Kessel and Malkin have been on the ice together at five-on-five this season, the Penguins are outscoring opponents 29-27.

Sullivan said the decision won’t be based on any philosophical opinion he might have on the matter.

“It’s just about putting combinations together that give us a chance to win,” he said. “Part of that is how guys are playing, how the lines are jelling. I do think that balance is important. When you play good teams, good teams are deep, and so balance is important at this time of year. But we can create that balance different ways. It’s really not about my preference on who’s together or who isn’t. It’s more about trying to create the balance and finding combinations that work together.”

Broken up

Moving Bjugstad to the second line breaks up the third-line combination with Simon and Hornqvist that had played a lot like an effective checking line over the past month or so.

When the trio was on the ice together, the Penguins held a 73-48 shots advantage and outscored their opponents 4-2 in about 121 minutes of five-on-five play.

“We have used them situationally against other teams’ top lines,” Sullivan said. “They’re a sound, 200-foot line. They’re good, conscientious players. They can play against anybody and they’ve played extremely well.”

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