From memory, I believe effect/recovery were both set at 3 and that gave me even ice time across all lines for one period of play. I bumped up effect to 4 and recovery down to 2 for the next period and the top 2 lines had more ice time in the stats screen. As mentioned, this was on-the-fly and not a controlled test. I believe that both periods were penalty free, but then I could be mistaken. I've changed sliders so much, frankly, it has become a bit of a blur. At the time, I remember thinking that is how it worked.