Evgeni Malkin understands the NHL Department of Player Safety's process about as well as he understands goaltender interference challenges in the league this season.
"It's hard to understand," he said after the Penguins' 7-2 win over the Avalanche here at Ball Arena.
Malkin contributed two goals toward the effort in the win, his return from his five-game suspension from slashing Rasmus Dahlin up high on March 5. Malkin acknowledged that what he did was wrong, calling it a "bad moment for me," but he doesn't quite understand how he got five games for it, seeing that Radko Gudas got five games for ending Auston Matthews' season with a dirty knee-on-knee hit.
"It's hard," Malkin said. "It's like, Matthews is out long-term, and Gudas got five games. I know I have a bad history, as they say. I have slashed before. But again, no injury (to Dahlin). If a guy doesn't have injury, it's probably a little bit less, maybe three games. It's hard to understand."
Malkin said he "tried to forget" the whole ordeal already, calling it a "bad memory."
The Penguins went 2-1-2 without Malkin, and he thanked his teammates for doing that well in his absence. But still, I asked him if he felt any added pressure coming into this game in his return, and he admitted that he "probably" did, and was a little bit nervous as a result.
"You miss five games, playing against Colorado here at home, I'm little bit nervous for the game," he said. "But I scored the first goal, and I feel better so much."
It was a pretty one, too, skating in with Bryan Rust and finishing with a spinning backhand shot:
Nathan MacKinnon quickly answered to tie the game, only for Anthony Mantha to answer right back with a breakaway goal to regain the lead. That's when Malkin skated through the slot and scored a wrist shot off a pass from Egor Chinakhov:
The win put the Penguins two points ahead of the Islanders for second place in the Metropolitan Division, seven points back of their next opponent, the Hurricanes. It was a huge win for the team's morale, but even more so for the playoff race.
A healthy, unsuspended Malkin can go a long way toward making that happen, and he's looking forward to seeing it through.
"We hope Sid's back soon," he said. "If we play at the same level, we have a great team. We miss three years playoffs. It's not what we want. Now? It's probably time to be back."
THE ASYLUM
Malkin: Suspension 'hard to understand'
Evgeni Malkin understands the NHL Department of Player Safety's process about as well as he understands goaltender interference challenges in the league this season.
"It's hard to understand," he said after the Penguins' 7-2 win over the Avalanche here at Ball Arena.
Malkin contributed two goals toward the effort in the win, his return from his five-game suspension from slashing Rasmus Dahlin up high on March 5. Malkin acknowledged that what he did was wrong, calling it a "bad moment for me," but he doesn't quite understand how he got five games for it, seeing that Radko Gudas got five games for ending Auston Matthews' season with a dirty knee-on-knee hit.
"It's hard," Malkin said. "It's like, Matthews is out long-term, and Gudas got five games. I know I have a bad history, as they say. I have slashed before. But again, no injury (to Dahlin). If a guy doesn't have injury, it's probably a little bit less, maybe three games. It's hard to understand."
Malkin said he "tried to forget" the whole ordeal already, calling it a "bad memory."
The Penguins went 2-1-2 without Malkin, and he thanked his teammates for doing that well in his absence. But still, I asked him if he felt any added pressure coming into this game in his return, and he admitted that he "probably" did, and was a little bit nervous as a result.
"You miss five games, playing against Colorado here at home, I'm little bit nervous for the game," he said. "But I scored the first goal, and I feel better so much."
It was a pretty one, too, skating in with Bryan Rust and finishing with a spinning backhand shot:
Nathan MacKinnon quickly answered to tie the game, only for Anthony Mantha to answer right back with a breakaway goal to regain the lead. That's when Malkin skated through the slot and scored a wrist shot off a pass from Egor Chinakhov:
The win put the Penguins two points ahead of the Islanders for second place in the Metropolitan Division, seven points back of their next opponent, the Hurricanes. It was a huge win for the team's morale, but even more so for the playoff race.
A healthy, unsuspended Malkin can go a long way toward making that happen, and he's looking forward to seeing it through.
"We hope Sid's back soon," he said. "If we play at the same level, we have a great team. We miss three years playoffs. It's not what we want. Now? It's probably time to be back."
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