PITTSBURGH \u2014 Evgeni Malkin has always enjoyed a visceral connection with Pittsburgh Penguins fans, and that was very much on display at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday night.<\/p>\n
As fans threw hats on the ice to commemorate the 14th hat trick of Malkin\u2019s unforgettable career, they chanted \u201cGeno! Geno!\u201d in a moment that clearly meant something to the future Hall of Famer during the Penguins\u2019 9-4 rout of the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI almost cried a little bit,\u201d Malkin said. \u201cIt\u2019s huge for me. I (last) scored a hat trick a long time ago, I don\u2019t remember when (2022 against the Red Wings). Again, it\u2019s lots of emotion. And I want to say thank you. Thank you for the support for myself, (the) team.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the primary storyline in Pittsburgh this season has been the Penguins\u2019 improbable run toward the postseason \u2014 thanks to losses by the Islanders and Blue Jackets on Saturday, the Penguins are more of a sure bet than ever to reach the playoffs \u2014 Malkin\u2019s cloudy future has also been a topic that can\u2019t be avoided.<\/p>\n
Playing in his 20th season with the Penguins, Malkin is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent this summer. The Penguins have not offered him another contract, though president of hockey operations\/general manager Kyle Dubas has agreed to meet with Malkin and his representatives following the season.<\/p>\n
Malkin has made it clear \u2014 he did so again following the game \u2014 that he wishes to remain in Pittsburgh next season. Dubas has been highly complimentary of Malkin\u2019s work this season but also said at a news conference in March that he has to do \u201cwhat\u2019s best for the Pittsburgh Penguins\u201d regarding Malkin\u2019s future with the team.<\/p>\n
Thus, the Malkin situation remains unclear.<\/p>\n
There was a sense in the building Saturday night that the fans and Malkin were enjoying the moment a little more than usual, just in case.<\/p>\n
Naturally, the fans would like to see Malkin return for more hockey next season. His performance against the Panthers provided some compelling evidence that gas in the tank remains.<\/p>\n
Malkin not only produced a hat trick but, along the way, also passed the 1,400-point mark for his career.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an amazing number, for sure,\u201d Malkin said. \u201cIt\u2019s one team, it\u2019s huge. I love to play here. I love to play with Sid (Sidney Crosby), Tanger (Kris Letang), Karl (Erik Karlsson). We have a great team right now. We played hard. Points (are) important. I don\u2019t want to stop, and I want the next milestone to be 15 (hundred).\u201d<\/p>\n
His teammates loved seeing Malkin\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always nice to see when the big man is moving,\u201d Karlsson said. \u201cHe wanted it today. He\u2019s obviously a big part of this team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Karlsson, Anthony Mantha, Noel Acciari, Ryan Shea, Elmer Soderblom and Rickard Rakell also scored for the Penguins, who put up six goals in the second period. The Penguins, who were not short-handed in this game, went 3-for-3 on the power play.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously a good game for us,\u201d Karlsson said. \u201cI think we took their spirit away in the second. A well-executed game by us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ten postgame observations<\/p>\n
\u2022 The scene in the locker room spoke for itself.<\/p>\n
After Malkin had met with the media, he was joined by his son, Nikita. Then, a moment later, Crosby came to join the Malkins.<\/p>\n
The three of them just sat together and took in the moment. It was a special moment to witness. Crosby and Malkin are so close, and it clearly meant the world to Malkin that his son was on hand to witness his dad putting on a show.<\/p>\n
It doesn\u2019t get much better than that.<\/p>\n
\u2022 As Karlsson noted, Malkin had his legs in a very big way.<\/p>\n
Only a few months shy of hitting 40, Malkin clearly doesn\u2019t have his legs on some nights. For that matter, we\u2019re starting to see that at times with Crosby. They\u2019re still great, but it\u2019s not always easy bringing the A-game to the rink every night at that age.<\/p>\n
But Malkin brought it out in this game. He had 4 points and was the game\u2019s dominant player. He had been quiet in recent games but exploded in this one, easily playing his finest game since a 3-point performance at Colorado on March 16.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Crosby earned two assists and is now 1 point shy of clinching a point-per-game season for the 21st consecutive time, which would extend his NHL record.<\/p>\n
Also, on a day of milestones, Crosby passed Steve Yzerman to slide into seventh place on the NHL\u2019s all-time scoring list with 1,756 points. He has played 97 fewer games than Yzerman.<\/p>\n
Yzerman was Crosby\u2019s favorite player growing up, and when I congratulated him after the game for reaching the milestone, I could surmise by the look on his face that this one meant a lot.<\/p>\n
Should Crosby remain healthy next season, he\u2019ll pass Marcel Dionne and Ron Francis to crack the top five. He\u2019s currently 94 points away from catching Gordie Howe. After that, the only players ahead of him would be Wayne Gretzky, Jaromir Jagr and Mark Messier.<\/p>\n
I think those names speak for themselves.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Crosby had just played a very ineffective game in Tampa two nights earlier. And make no mistake, he\u2019s not on top of his game right now. This was the second straight game in which he didn\u2019t register a shot on goal. The last time he went two straight games without a shot was last season, when he responded with a seven-shot outing against Utah in the game that produced his 600th career goal.<\/p>\n
That said, there were signs Crosby will snap out of his funk sooner rather than later. His skating looked better, and he made a couple of passes, especially one to Bryan Rust in the first period, that only the greats make. He hasn\u2019t played a lot during the past couple of months because of two separate leg injuries, and I think his timing has been out of whack.<\/p>\n
I still think he\u2019ll be OK come playoff time.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Soderblom can really play. I\u2019m not sure if the Penguins can take him out of the lineup when the postseason begins.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s put up two goals and 5 points in his last five games while becoming a noticeably more physical player. He\u2019s a positive player for the Penguins right now.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Speaking of which, I loved Sam Girard\u2019s game. Again.<\/p>\n
This is the third straight game in which Girard has played high-level hockey. Letang and Girard were really struggling a couple of weeks back but seem to have found their footing. In his past four games, Girard has 4 points and is a plus-6.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s made big strides, and it should be noted that Colorado\u2019s defensive system is much different than what the Penguins use. Girard has explained that Colorado uses more man-to-man elements in its defensive approach and that learning the Pittsburgh system has taken some time.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s looking comfortable now.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Karlsson had 4 points in this game and now has 10 goals and 28 points in his past 19 games. That\u2019s not a mistake.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s scary good right now.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Art\u016brs \u0160ilovs\u00a0is just scary.<\/p>\n
The goaltender earned the win, yes. But this was not a good performance. Florida\u2019s first goal was especially bad and came courtesy of a terrible \u0160ilovs rebound.<\/p>\n
\u0160ilovs has allowed 31 goals in his past eight starts. His save percentage during that time is .842.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not good enough. There\u2019s no way you can play him in a playoff game, and it wouldn\u2019t be a bad idea to invite Sergei Murashov to Pittsburgh. You want your best players playing in the spring, right? Does anyone think \u0160ilovs is better than Murashov right now?<\/p>\n
\u2022 I have a lot of respect for the Panthers. Literally half of their team is out with injuries right now, and this is a team suffering from profound exhaustion. Three straight trips to the Stanley Cup Final will do that to a team.<\/p>\n
But this group has a lot of pride. As bad as they were in this game, I don\u2019t think they\u2019ll be a pushover Sunday when they play the Penguins in a rematch.<\/p>\n
\u2022 The Islanders and Blue Jackets lost again Saturday. This means the Penguins are a virtual lock to not only reach the playoffs but also likely to have home-ice advantage in the first round. What is really interesting is that a couple of old friends \u2014 the Flyers and Capitals \u2014 are now very much alive and could surpass the Islanders and Blue Jackets, perhaps meeting the Penguins in the first round.<\/p>\n
I imagine those respective matchups would get everyone\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PITTSBURGH \u2014 Evgeni Malkin has always enjoyed a visceral connection with Pittsburgh Penguins fans, and that was very…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":541476,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5113],"tags":[5,4,118,1469,100,5216],"class_list":{"0":"post-541475","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-penguins","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-nhl","10":"tag-penguins","11":"tag-pittsburgh","12":"tag-pittsburgh-penguins","13":"tag-pittsburghpenguins"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116350192769862347","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=541475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541475\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/541476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}