Perron, Despres emotional about return

The Penguins will be without Evgeni Malkin for a third consecutive game tonight against the Ducks. Malkin didn't participate in the morning skate at Consol Energy Center, and Mike Sullivan afterward declared him "day to day" with a lower-body injury.

Other developments at the skate:

• Marc-Andre Fleury will start in goal. He was pulled in the second period Friday in Tampa, then saw Jeff Zatkoff start -- and win -- Saturday in Sunrise, where the Penguins salvaged two points from their two-game Florida trip.

• David Warsofsky returned to the ice for the first time since sustaining a concussion Jan. 17, when he tripped over a referee.

• Whitehall native John Gibson will start in goal for the Ducks, marking Gibson's second start in his hometown arena.



ANAHEIM CONNECTIONS

Most of the fuss at the skate -- in both locker rooms -- was about the two major one-for-one trades between the teams the past two years, with Ben Lovejoy having been acquired last season for Simon Despres and Carl Hagelin having been acquired last month for David Perron.

Despres, Hagelin and Perron will be facing their previous team for the first time since the trades.

"I think they're a good team, and they're obviously rolling," Hagelin said of the Ducks' current six-game winning streak and 8-1 broader roll. "We need to be at our best."

Asked specifically why he's performed much better in Pittsburgh than Anaheim -- five assists and 22 shots in eight games -- Hagelin replied: "I think it was a mix. It was myself not feeling great and the team not doing great offensively. My last 10 games over there, I started feeling good and had confidence, so I came here feeling good."

"This is a team that will always hold a special place in my life," Lovejoy said. "I was lucky to be there. They were good to me. And ... I really want to beat them tonight."

Perron has three goals and five assists in seven games since joining Anaheim, skating on a line with Ryan Getzlaf and Chris Stewart.

He sounded delighted to be where he is:



Despres has been back four games since missing half the season -- 42 games -- with a concussion. He's been paired with Sami Vatanen and has been both physical and effective, according to those in the Anaheim camp.

"It took me some time, but I feel like I'm getting back to where I need to be," Despres said as part of a long conversation we had. "It's just nice to be contributing."

FRENCH CONNECTIONS

Both Perron and Despres spoke emotionally of their enduring relationships with Pascal Dupuis and Kris Letang.

Perron said that, on the night he was traded -- if that can be called night, given that it occurred shortly before 3 a.m. -- Letang accompanied him to his Pittsburgh home and "spent the whole night making sure I was OK. I can't tell you how much 58 means to me. He's a great man."

Dupuis' forced retirement to blood clot issues visibly touched both.

"Duper just texted me this morning to say hello and welcome back," Perron said, holding up his cell. "Having the French guys that we did in Pittsburgh -- more than I ever had in my NHL career -- was a good thing. They're my friends."

Despres said of Dupuis: "He was like a father to me when I was here. But I'm happy to see he's not playing now, because of his health. You've only got one life. One family. It was starting to get scary there, where he'd be in the hospital after games. I'm sure it's tough for him right now, but it was the right decision for everyone."

CULLEN KEEPS COOL

Matt Cullen has been around long enough to know who and what he is, so it shouldn't surprise that, in taking Malkin's place on the second line, he's remained assertive in creating his own offense and resisted the urge to force-feed the puck to linemates Phil Kessel and Carl Hagelin.

I asked Cullen if there's any facet of his game that changes from line to line:



Cullen has two goals and six shots in the past three games.

CROSBY FIRST STAR

Sidney Crosby was named the NHL's No. 1 star of the week, with five goals and eight assists in three games.

PLOTNIKOV, COLE OUT AGAIN

The lines and pairings from the morning skate powerfully suggest Sergei Plotnikov and Ian Cole again will be the odd men out:

Chris Kunitz-Crosby-Patric Hornqvist
Hagelin-Cullen-Kessel
Tom Kuhnhackl-Oskar Sundqvist-Bryan Rust
Scott Wilson-Kevin Porter-Conor Sheary

Olli Maatta-Letang
Trevor Daley-Brian Dumoulin
Lovejoy-Derrick Pouliot