For 15 consecutive games, the Pittsburgh Penguins operated without the services of one of their best players in Evgeni Malkin.
That changed Thursday, when he made his return to the lineup against the New Jersey Devils. And - even if he started off a bit slow - he did not disappoint.
The 39-year-old veteran scored a crucial five-on-three power play goal late in the second period en route to a 4-1 win over the struggling Devils, who earned their third consecutive loss. In contrast, Pittsburgh earned its sixth straight win, all since the holiday break, and climbed into the East's first wild card spot. And they are a team that is clicking on all cylinders right now.
"I feel like right when we came back from the break, we just got back to work," goaltender Stuart Skinner said. "I feel like our details in here are really solid and just our commitment to those details. So, ever since we got back, I feel like we've been rolling pretty good, and it's our job to keep that consistency going."
The Penguins - coincidentally, for the sixth consecutive game - secured an early lead when Rickard Rakell fed a breaking Erik Karlsson on the rush down the right side, and he put a puck top-shelf over Devils' goaltender Jake Allen to put his team up, 1-0. Things got a bit rocky in the opening frame, though, as the Devils outshot the Penguins, 11-7, but Skinner was there to shut the door and preserve the narrow lead.
Connor Dewar took an early second-period penalty that the Penguins managed to kill off, and - upon his return to the ice - Rakell connected with him on an impressive stretch pass for a breakaway opportunity. He beat Allen five-hole, gave the Penguins a 2-0 lead, and turned the tables in favor of Pittsburgh.
Nearing the end of the second, Timo Meier went to the box for slashing, and Connor Brown followed him there with a tripping penalty just 22 seconds after to give the Penguins a five-on-three. Although the power play was sloppy early on, Malkin eventually capitalized with less than a minute to go in the middle frame from the right circle off a one-time feed from Sidney Crosby.
Malkin also took a slashing penalty early in the third, and the Penguins surrendered a goal to Luke Hughes on the Devils' man advantage. But Pittsburgh recovered from there, and they got a late insurance goal from Blake Lizotte to seal the deal and send the lively crowd home happy.
"It's a huge credit to [the team]," head coach Dan Muse said. "They came out of that break, and right away, we felt refreshed just having a little bit of time. And now, you start to build some momentum. You build from one game to the next."
He added: "I also feel like the ebbs and flows of the game are being controlled better. And that's probably, if I was going to say one thing in terms of there's a difference between these last six games and maybe the 6-10 games prior, it's that. It's part of a season, too. You learn from the things that go well, you learn from the things that don't, and you keep moving forward."
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Here are some thoughts and takeaways from yet another Penguins' win:
- To start this game, Malkin looked like a guy who hadn't played the last 15 games.
He was slow-footed, he couldn't handle passes, the puck was floating off his stick, and he couldn't connect on passes. And that's all to reasonably be expected from a 39-year-old player who missed a month of game action and came back playing in a pretty unfamiliar position.
However, he woke up in the second period. He looked like he was playing angry, which is never a good thing for the opposing team. He broke through on the five-on-three, and that was after a botched three-on-one opportunity earlier in the period as well as a few other chances.
"It's not easy changing positions," Malkin said. "Long time ago, I play wing. But, after first, I think I take a couple pucks, use my stickhandling. You know, it feels a little better, for sure. Unusual for me, and I hope we play same next game, too."
As for his line, Ben Kindel got better as the game progressed. And I do quite like Egor Chinakhov's game. This guy wins puck battles, is strong on the puck with possession, and isn't trigger-shy. Once Kindel, Chinakhov, and Malkin gel, I think this has the makings of a good line for the Penguins.
- Talk about a goal providing a spark.
Dewar was sent to the penalty box for high-sticking early in the second period, and the Penguins managed to kill it off. Rakell - already with an assist in the game - sprung Dewar for the breakaway with a beautiful stretch pass, and Dewar - as mentioned before - didn't miss.
While the goal was an impressive play all-around, it was what happened after that made a huge difference. The Penguins suddenly awoke from their first-period malaise, and they got opportunity after opportunity. Malkin, Kindel, and Chinakhov had that three-on-one shortly after. The first line had an utterly dominant shift in the offensive zone where they were teeing off left and right. The Penguins seized momentum for the period and never really gave it back, outshooting the Devils 17-5 in the middle frame.
Of course, there were some Devils' chances in the third, but the Penguins were, ultimately, able to shut the door and pad their lead. That was a crucial goal in this game, and it was - unsurprisingly - courtesy of one of their fourth-line players.
And - unsurprisingly - that same fourth line earned another big goal at the end to put the cherry on top.
- I haven't been enamored with the Penguins' power play in a general sense as of late.
Are they still second in the league? Yes. Are they still scoring with relative frequency? Also yes. But there is not nearly as much player movement or puck movement as there was at the beginning of the season, and they're just not generating as much as they were.
We've seen how high a level this unit can operate at. If they can get back to that level, this team will be even more dangerous than it has been on this six-game winning streak.
- Boy, Skinner was good in this game.
The Penguins didn't get off to a particularly good start. They were clearly shaking off the rust of their three days off coming into this one, and he had to make some key saves to preserve the 1-0 lead - including a breakaway save on Jesper Bratt and a point-blank net-front save on Nico Hischier. And he did the same thing in the third period, when the Devils started to pressure a bit again.
He's not the quickest goaltender post-to-post, but he has size. And when his reads are on, he's a very competitive netminder.
Things are definitely trending up for him. He has been great in his last two starts, and Arturs Silovs has given them a few good starts in a row, too. If the team's goaltending can sustain, I don't see why they won't be hanging around for the rest of the season.
Erik Karlsson’s Confidence Continues To Help Guide The PenguinsErik Karlsson's confidence is through the roof, and it continues to pay dividends for the Penguins.- Rakell and Karlsson were very, very good in this game. Karlsson has been at the top of his game during this winning streak, and he extended his home point streak to nine games, which is the longest home point streak of his career.
And Thursday was the best version of Rakell I've seen since he returned from injury. His pass to Dewar was excellent, he was good on the penalty kill, and he was creating space and opportunity in the offensive zone, using physicality to gain positioning.
The goals will come if he keeps playing this way, but regardless, his distribution game was really good in this one.
- The Penguins have won six straight hockey games. They are now 20-12-9 and sit in the East's first wild card spot. They are only one point back of second in the Metropolitan and six points back of first in the Metro, a spot currently occupied by the Carolina Hurricanes.
They're getting pretty good goaltending at the moment. Their defensive details are much better late in games. They have four lines that they can roll effectively and a fourth line that has quite literally changed the shape of some hockey games recently.
When healthy, this is a good hockey team, especially on the forward front. That's been the case all year.
Malkin's Return Exposes Center Depth As Strength For Penguins This SeasonPittsburgh Penguins' center Evgeni Malkin is poised to make his return to the lineup soon, and his deployment shows just how much center depth the Penguins have on their NHL roster this seasonOnly four of their 11 games for the remainder of the month are against teams - the Tampa Bay Lightning, Philadelphia Flyers, Seattle Kraken, and Edmonton Oilers - currently in playoff position. With just three games more games after that in February prior to the nearly three-week Olympic break, the Penguins need to bank as many points as possible against teams below them in the standings. Their schedule in March is condensed, and it's not an easy one by any stretch of the imagination, as they play the Colorado Avalanche and Vegas Golden Knights twice each as well as the Hurricanes three times.
If they can pad their playoff positioning a bit prior to the break, that would be huge. And with the way they're playing - and how dangerous this team looks right now - these games should be very winnable.
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