Penguins and Predators might tinker with lineups for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final

Greetings from Pittsburgh, where Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final will be played Monday night at PPG Paints Arena.

Both the Penguins and the Nashville Predators held optional morning skates, which makes it difficult to project what their lines will be — and there are a few questions for both teams.

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said winger Patric Hornqvist will play, but he wouldn’t say who will come out of the lineup. Hornqvist suffered an upper-body injury during the Eastern Conference finals and hasn’t played since Game 1 of that series. Hornqvist is a former Predator and was acquired by the Penguins in the first trade made by Jim Rutherford when he was hired to be Pittsburgh’s general manager in 2014. Winger James Neal was sent to Nashville, where he has flourished.

“Yes, I have made the decision. No, I won’t share it with you,” Sullivan said when asked if Carl Hagelin or Jake Guentzel might be scratched.

Guentzel, a rookie, scored five goals in the Penguins’ first-round victory over Columbus and nine goals in his first 10 games. However, his production has tailed off and he hasn’t scored a goal in his last eight games. “Sometimes you go through that stretch and you’ve got to stay positive,” he said. “I thought I had chances but sometimes they don’t go your way. That’s the way it happens, and you’ve just got to move on.”

Predators coach Peter Laviolette again said center Mike Fisher, who suffered an apparent eye injury in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals against the Ducks, is available for Game 1. But Laviolette wouldn’t go beyond that, in keeping with the secrecy that team executives take to high levels during the playoffs for fear of giving their opponents an advantage. Fisher’s return likely would help the Predators — who lost No. 1 center Ryan Johansen to an injury during the West finals — match up better up the middle against Penguins centers Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

But the main responsibility for defending Crosby and Malkin will rest with the Predators’ defense. They arguably have the best top four in the NHL with Roman Josi partnered with Ryan Ellis, and Mattias Ekholm partnered with P.K. Subban. But Laviolette might not be able to get one of those pairs out against Crosby or Malkin during games in Pittsburgh because the home team can make the last change. That could create a mismatch that favors the Penguins and puts a big burden on the Predators’ third pairing of Matt Irwin and Yannick Weber, but Laviolette said he’s not concerned.

“I think they’ve been incredible. Probably the least two defensemen talked about, based on the top four being who they are, but I think they’ve done an amazing job defensively,” Laviolette said. “They’re a little bit different in style. Matty is a little bit bigger. I think he uses his body well. I think that Webby has the opportunity to jump in offensively, see if he can’t put himself into the rush or the offense a little bit more.

“In my opinion, they’ve delivered a really solid 200-foot game. Like I said, at times you’d like to get a matchup or you’d like to get your top four out there against a Crosby or a Malkin, but we have a lot of confidence if that doesn’t happen. These guys can do the job. They’ve done it all year.”

Irwin has averaged 11 minutes and 46 seconds’ ice time during the playoffs, with Weber at 11:13. Josi leads the team at 25:56, with Subban at 25:52, Ekholm at 25:34 and Ellis at 23:59. “We’re expecting to see anyone. We’re prepared for anyone that we might match up against,” Irwin said. “The way Webby and I look at it, we’re not going to change our game for any different line. We’re going to be aware of who’s on the ice — you’ve always got to be aware of that and just play your game. Play simple, make players when they’re there, and jump in the rush.”

Irwin also said he and Weber don’t mind that the team’s other four defensemen get more plaudits. “They deserve a lot of credit. They’re fantastic defensemen,” he said. “I think we kind of we can support them in any way we can. We can take up minutes that need to be done, hard, heavy minutes, be good in our defensive zone, move pucks up to our forwards, and we have the ability to join in the rush as well.”

helene.elliott@latimes.com

@helenenothelen