Just under a year ago, Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin tore the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his right knee. He faced an entire offseason of rehabilitation and his team was left without its two best players. Star center Sidney Crosby had already succumbed to a pair of concussions. Malkin went down during a Feb. 4 game against Buffalo. At the time it was fair to ask when he would finally return to form. It’s happening now. After recording two goals and five assists in his first 13 games of the 2011-12 season and also dealing with lingering knee tendonitis, Malkin has exploded since the calendar flipped to 2012. The Capitals found that out for themselves on Sunday when Malkin scored the game-winning goal in overtime of a 4-3 victory.
Recommended Stories
The play seemed simple enough. Playing 4-on-4 in the extra session, Washington’s players tried to get in the way of a point shot. But the puck, sent intentionally wide, hit the end boards with enough force to carom to the left of goalie Michal Neuvirth. The Caps left Malkin alone for just a second. But that’s all he needed to corral the puck and jam it past Neuvirth.
“If it was on net [Neuvirth] would have had it, right? But they shot it wide as we were lining up for the shot so it wouldn’t get through,” Washington coach Dale Hunter said. “Just a special play by a special player, where [Malkin] took it from behind the net and brought her out front … and without it bouncing over your stick or [being] too slow.”
Malkin has left plenty of coaches dispensing praise lately. He has 11 goals and four assists in January alone. He is now third in goals (26) and leads the NHL in points (58). And that kind of Hart Trophy effort has kept the Penguins (27-17-4, 58 points) afloat in a year where they are again missing Crosby (concussion), center Jordan Staal (knee) is out of the lineup until next month and Kris Letang, Pittsburgh’s top defenseman, just returned last week from his own concussion after 21 games.
– Brian McNally
