Bruins vs. Penguins: Who Has the Edge in Showdown of Chara vs. Malkin Line?

Finding the right matchups defensively will play a critical role in determining the outcome of the Eastern Conference Final series between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Boston Bruins.

The matchup dilemma is a bit more difficult for Bruins head coach Claude Julien to figure out because the Penguins have the best top-six forward group in the NHL and lead the playoffs in goals scored at even strength (32) and on the power play (13).

Bruins forward Milan Lucic actually compared Pittsburgh to the NBA's superstar-laden Miami Heat squad following his team's second round series-clinching Game 5 win against the Rangers.

"Well, no doubt they’re a great hockey club. In my mind, they’re almost like the Miami Heat of the NHL with all the star power they got," Lucic said.

"Probably the two best players in the world and a 40- goal scorer and the former 50-goal scorer, a future Hall of Famer and a Norris Trophy candidate on their team. So, they definitely have a lot of weapons and in saying all that, I think what makes them successful is they play real well as a team and I think that’s what you’re going to probably see going into this next series, is two well-rounded teams going at it and for us we’ve got to be ready and excited for the challenge."

Julien has the benefit of a shutdown defense pairing at his disposal that includes captain and No. 1 defenseman Zdeno Chara and the underrated Dennis Seidenberg.

This duo has been deployed against the opposing team's best lines since Boston's Stanley Cup-winning season two years ago. They will likely be assigned to shut down the Evgeni Malkin, James Neal and Jarome Iginla trio of the Penguins, which is arguably the best line in hockey.

Who has the edge in the Chara/Seidenberg versus Malkin line matchup?

For starters, this Bruins pairing has plenty of experience against star-studded lines with elite playmakers and goal scorers. The last time that Boston played a high-scoring opponent with the kind of depth and skill of this year's Penguins team was the 2011 Stanley Cup Final matchup against the Vancouver Canucks.

Chara and Seidenberg were asked to shut down the Canucks' first line of Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin and Alex Burrows, a trio that combined for 86 goals and 160 assists in the regular season. This defensive pairing did its job brilliantly to limit the the Sedin twins to four points (two goals, two assists) in the seven-game Cup Final series. Its ability to prevent these two superstars from making a strong impact offensively played a gigantic part in the Bruins winning the Stanley Cup.

The current challenge in shutting down the Penguins' second line is very similar to the one that Chara and Seidenberg faced in the 2011 Cup Final, but it's also going to be a bit more difficult.

When determining who has the edge in this matchup, it's important to look at it in two different ways, at even strength and on the power play. Here's a breakdown of Malkin, Iginla and Neal's performance against the Bruins over the past two seasons.

Player	GP	Points (Goals/Assists)	ES Goals vs. Chara	PP Goals vs. Chara
Malkin	4	1/4	0	1
Neal	5	2/4	1	1
Iginla	2	1/0	0	1
Total	10	13 (5G, 8A)	1	3

After a good but not great performance in the first round against the New York Islanders, the Penguins' second line went into beast mode during the conference semifinals against an Ottawa Senators team that plays well defensively and has a top-tier goaltender in Craig Anderson.

Round 2	GP	G	A	PTS
Malkin	5	2	3	5
Neal	5	5	4	9
Iginla	5	2	1	3

This line has not played better as a unit all season, and now that all of these players are healthy, they have been able to gain experience playing together and develop chemistry during the playoffs. This trio's confidence is sky high, and Neal in particular is starting to hit his stride. After scoring one goal in his first seven postseason games, Neal netted five in the final two matchups of the Senators series.

With that said, the focal point of the Bruins' game plan to stop this dominant line is shutting down its playmaker at center.

Malkin has dominated the Bruins throughout his career, and since the start of the 2008-09 season, the Russian center has tallied 14 points (two goals, 12 assists) in 13 games versus the Original Six club. His combination of extraordinary passing skills and clutch scoring makes him one of the two toughest players to defend in the world, along with superstar teammate Sidney Crosby.

If the Bruins shut down Malkin, the chances of the Penguins' second line giving its team the required amount of offensive production to win this series are slim.

As a player who draws so much attention in the attacking zone, Malkin's impact on the success of his linemates is immense. He assisted on 13 of Neal's 21 goals scored during the regular season, and on the star winger's four goals (of six total) that have been assisted in the playoffs, Malkin has been involved in two of them.

A bad series from Malkin will probably result in a poor performance from Neal, which would put a lot of pressure on Iginla to play at a high level (just two of his nine goals as a Penguins player, including the playoffs, were assisted by Malkin).

On the power play, the Penguins definitely have the edge in the matchup versus Boston's top defensive pairing.

Pittsburgh ranks first among all playoff teams with 13 power-play goals, six of which were scored in the second round. The Bruins' penalty kill has been disappointingly average since the final month of the regular season after it was outstanding for most of the year.

Boston allowed four power-play goals to the New York Rangers in Round 2, which was discouraging for the Bruins since the Blueshirts are one of the most ineffective teams in the league with the man advantage (second-worst regular-season power-play percentage of the eight conference semifinalists).

Chara and Seidenberg rank first and third on the Bruins in short-handed ice time per game, respectively, and must excel on the penalty kill for their team to prevent the Penguins from seizing momentum and scoring goals consistently on the power play.

Given its previous success on the scoresheet (especially on the power play) and in the win column against the Bruins since the start of the 2011-12 season (6-1 overall, 3-0 in Boston), the Malkin line has the advantage over the Chara/Seidenberg pairing prior to Game 1 of this series.

That doesn't mean that the Bruins won't win this matchup. Chara is the toughest defenseman in the NHL to play against and Seidenberg blocks shots, plays a physical game and is always well-positioned. 

It's important to note that the job of defending this highly talented trio will be a team effort from the Bruins. In addition to Chara and Seidenberg's role, Julien will likely put his top line of David Krejci, Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton on the ice whenever Malkin and Co. hop over the boards. The Bruins' first line is responsible defensively and the physical play of Lucic and Horton as two premier power forwards makes this trio a difficult one to play against.

There are many important matchups in this series, which is why the benefit of home-ice advantage and having the last line change in four of the possible seven games are a huge boost to the Penguins.

The Bruins have to get the better of the matchup against the Malkin, Neal and Iginla line to have a strong chance of winning this series. A poor performance from Chara and Seidenberg in the Eastern Conference Final is a recipe for disaster from Boston's perspective.

These two defensemen have stepped up to the challenge against high-scoring lines several times in the past and must do so again for the Bruins to reach the Stanley Cup Final for the second time in three years.

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Nicholas Goss is an NHL Lead Writer at Bleacher Report. Nick was a credentialed reporter at the 2011 Stanley Cup Final and 2012 NHL playoffs, and he is also a credentialed writer at the 2013 NHL playoffs in Boston. All quotes obtained first hand.