Is it genius because it worked, or did it work because it was genius? There’s lots of perspectives on NHL coaching, especially analyzing decisions after the fact.
Either way, when it is said that “Mike Sullivan pushes all the right buttons” decisions like putting Evgeni Malkin and Jeff Carter together is a perfect example of that. It was an unconventional and out of the box move to pair Malkin with two right handed shots in Carter and Kasperi Kapanen. It also put Carter on the left wing, the one forward position he basically has not played.
And yet, it was also born out of necessity.