The next observer who describes Evgeni Malkin as a north-south player will be -- and should be -- the first. But that hardly means his compass is stuck on E and W.
Just check the speedometer.
"When Geno's skating the way he is now, you just want to work to keep up," Carl Hagelin was telling me after the Penguins outraced the Maple Leafs, 5-3, Saturday night at PPG Paints Arena. "And he's skating. Wow. Get that man some new blades, you know?"
That's Hagelin, mind you. Maybe the world's fastest human on any blades.
But that's also how peak-form Malkin looks, even to two outrageously fast linemates in Hagelin and Bryan Rust. Yeah, he's got the 6-foot-3 frame, he's got enough skill to have at least been considered for the NHL's all-time top 100 player list -- sorry, that never stops being obscenely offensive -- but he's also got world-class speed when he revs it up.
And man alive, is that engine ablaze right now.
In addition to wreaking all kinds of north-south collateral damage to score his goal in the first period ...
... he executed this breathtaking burst from the Pittsburgh blue line through the neutral zone to power the Penguins' previous goal, from Rust to Hagelin for the deft redirect:
No, really. Stop and marvel at that. Especially for any total NHL diehards reading this, ask yourself how many players come equipped with that gear.
This is an underappreciated aspect of Malkin's game, the transition, but the same can be said for his team as a whole. Except opponents appreciate it plenty. It's one of the main topics at every morning skate of every team they face, that rapid-fire counterattack.
That's understandable. But the speed being underappreciated really isn't.
So, I asked him afterward about the skating, nothing else:
Ha! Yeah, he's only fast on home ice!
Well, OK, giving Geno the benefit of the doubt, there could be some validity to it. I mean, the Penguins have won 11 in a row here, and he's got a seven-game points streak here that totals 11 goals and seven assists. He's been spectacular.
But he's also been spectacular everywhere else, from California to Texas to Missouri, putting up an overall league-best 33 points -- 19 goals, 14 assists -- since the calendar flipped to 2018.
Oh, and he soon might rise above his pack of countrymen in one rather prominent category:
Anything behind the scenes that's helped fuel him?
Better eating, conditioning, rest?
"Just confidence," he came back to my question. "I'm just confident right now. I feel good. So good."
It's sure showing. Shift after hyperdrive shift.
• Malkin's goal brought his 900th point, which puts him in line behind the usual trio -- Mario Lemieux (1,723), Sidney Crosby (1,093), Jaromir Jagr (1,079) -- with that many in franchise history. Going broader, he's the sixth Russian-born player with that many, joining Sergei Fedorov (1,179) Alexander Ovechkin (1,100), Alexander Mogilny (1,032), Alexei Kovalev (1,029), Pavel Datsyuk (918).
No slight here to any of the aforementioned, and respectfully omitting pre-NHL Russian greats, but Malkin is destined to go down as the greatest from his country to play in this league.
• The Hagelin-Malkin-Rust line's been hooked up for a handful of games now, but it's never clicked like Saturday, including this Malkin dish to Rust, who basically stood at the beach and hit the ocean:
This is instructive, as line chemistry can be inflated as a variable. Hagelin and Rust have made fine plays to each other, but the origin of just about everything they've done is Malkin's brilliance, as the above sequences illustrate.
Mike Sullivan praised all three after their eight-point output.
"I think what Haggy and Rusty do is they create that north-south game for Geno, and I think Geno's more inclined to shoot the puck when he's with those guys," he said. "And we think that's when he's at his best. Those guys are conscientious. At both ends of the rink. They play a 200-foot game. If they get caught in the offensive zone, they have the ability to get back and catch the rush. That's what they bring to Geno."
Right. Any good coach does well to emphasize the supporting cast. But, to quote the 'Walter White' character from the epic TV series 'Breaking Bad,' Geno is the danger.
I confirmed this with Hagelin:
• Patrick Marleau, Toronto's veteran winger, was asked what impressed him the most about the Malkin line, and he quickly replied, "The speed and the skill level."
Note which came first.
• I won't be able to come up with strong enough terminology for how strong Dominik Simon was on the puck all night long, regardless of zone or situation. He's not a big dude, but he towers above in that regard.
He was, in particular, a huge part of the Penguins' shutdown play in the final 12 minutes, four seconds after Olli Maatta's decisive goal.
• Maatta's goal, which he assured me included "everything I had" rather than having been aimed, was a testament to the value of shooting first, thinking later. Carter Rowney had set a screen in the lane, coincidentally or otherwise, and Toronto goaltender Frederik Andersen tried to look to the left of Rowney to track the shot, and the puck would emerge to the other side.
"Yeah, I obviously would have had a better chance of stopping it if I looked the other way," Andersen said. "That's a tough way to lose, on that goal."
• The game overall was wonderful. High-octane, high-speed hockey right from the drop of the puck. And though the home team owned the outcome, the 39-32 edge in shots and the 60-58 edge in attempted shots, the Maple Leafs might have skated off with this one had they not narrowly missed on four -- by my count -- potential tap-ins.
As Mike Babcock lamented afterward, "No question we generated a lot. But three or four of our best chances, I don't think we ever got a shot on net."
Three of those were passes that misfired by inches. Another was a two-on-one in the third period that Matt Hunwick foiled by sliding and getting just enough of the puck that it prevented James van Riemsdyk from getting his blade on a potentially pivotal goal.
If Babcock came across as upset, that's wholly expected. Coaches hate these kinds of games. Coaches like what they can control, and that's mostly defense.
"It was a high-event game," he continued. "I don't think either team handled the other's forecheck that well. There was lots of speed out there. If you're a fan, you had to be entertained with everybody racing around."
• Anyone else uncomfortable with the increasing number of tickets Toronto fans snap up for every visit here?
OK, now imagine how fans in nearly every other NHL arena feel when the Penguins arrive in town. Because that's how that goes from coast to coast anymore. And not just in hockey, but in football, too. It's amazing.
• Too bad 'Nineteen-Sixty-Seven!' doesn't exactly make for an easy chant.
Mind you, that's not just the last time the Leafs won the Cup. It's the last time they reached the Final.
TAP ABOVE FOR BOX SCORE, STANDINGS, VIDEO• Hunwick's major malfunction since his acquisition has been he's seldom in proper position. On Toronto's opening goal by Connor Brown, Hunwick somehow went maybe a dozen seconds without once approaching a white sweater, only to desperately lunge back out front after Brown pulled the trigger, far too late. He did go point-to-point to assist on Maatta's goal, but skating and offense aren't his issues. Defense very much is.
Jim Rutherford hasn't made many mistakes in his tenure here, but this one's costly: $6.75 million over three years. And even with the Rob Scuderi trade still making all things in life seem possible, no one's going to take that off the Penguins' hands.
Get well soon, Justin Schultz.
• While I'm sounding sour: Is it me, or has Rowney been on the rink for every single goal-against in the past week?
Hm ... that's not far off, upon actually researching it: Over the Penguins' past five games, they've given up 11 goals, and Rowney's been out for six of those, including two of Toronto's three on this night.
Plus-minus is an antiquated stat, but the role of the fourth-line center offers the simplest equation of all: Don't allow the opponent to score. Meaning on the power play, too. And with all due respect to Rowney having set that screen on Maatta's winner, he's done far too much of both.
I hereby formally renew the cry for Teddy Blueger to make his NHL debut.
• On that note, as if anything could be bigger than the Blueger debut, I eagerly await the biggest game of the winter in Columbus. At least in the eyes of a lot of folks there who continue to hype up an alleged rivalry that does not now and never has existed. Because a rivalry, by definition, requires two. And there's precious little enmity on the Pittsburgh end, never mind envy.
If there's any added drama, it'll be that Sullivan has a real shot at adding a rusty nail to John Tortorella's latest failure.
My goodness, how is that team with that talent floating outside the Eastern playoff picture?