Penguins lose Malkin, points in another 'frustrating' result
The Penguins could find themselves without Evgeni Malkin for some time following their 4-1 loss to the Kraken here at Climate Pledge Arena on Saturday.
Malkin left the game midway through the first period after a collision in the neutral zone with the Kraken's Chandler Stephenson. Malkin's left knee collided with Stephenson's left leg as Malkin attempted to skate past him, and Malkin's leg appeared to bend inward at the knee:
Malkin sat on the bench hunched over in pain speaking with an athletic trainer for some time before walking down the tunnel to the Penguins' locker room, first stopping to stretch out that leg. He returned to the bench after several minutes and took a 37-second shift before leaving the ice and returning to the Penguins' locker room for good.
Mike Sullivan didn't have an update on Malkin after the game, and said he didn't have a sense yet on whether Malkin is going to miss any kind of substantial time.
The Penguins were already short-handed coming into this game. An injury to Bryan Rust and an illness to Blake Lizotte left the Penguins with 11 forwards, and so Boko Imama was recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the morning to give them the full 12. But a roster spot needed to be cleared in order to fit Imama, forcing Owen Pickering to be sent down to the AHL -- a move that likely would have happened anyway before the road trip for long-term development benefits, but was forced to happen now for roster management reasons.
If Malkin is to miss any amount of time, the Penguins could free up a necessary roster spot for a recall by putting him on regular injured reserve, which is an option if he is to miss at least seven days.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton's top two centers wouldn't be options for a recall. Tristan Broz is sidelined for the foreseeable future as he works to regain the strength he lost after a bout of mononucleosis, and Boris Katchouk isn't on an AHL contract, and signing him would put the Penguins at the maximum 50 contracts. Vasily Ponomarev would make the most sense if a center is wanted. Or, if the Penguins want to shift one of their existing wingers like Drew O'Connor over to center and recall a winger, a case could really be made for any of Emil Bemstrom, Rutger McGroarty, Ville Koivunen, Jesse Puljujarvi, Valtteri Puustinen or Sam Poulin with their play of late. There would be options.
Either way, losing Malkin could be a serious blow. This road trip could prove to be a pivotal one in the tight wild card race.
"You never want to see guys go down to injury, but every team goes through it," Kevin Hayes said. "It's just a next-man-up mentality."
The loss of Malkin was the cherry on top of an otherwise frustrating game for the Penguins. They really did well to control the play for stretches of the game, and control the high-danger areas of the ice. At five-on-five, the Penguins led in shot attempts (61-36), unblocked attempts (47-25) and shots (28-19). In all situations, they had a significant 16-2 lead in high-danger attempts, and a 9-0 lead in high-danger shots on goal, the only time they didn't allow a high-danger shot on goal in a game this season.
But the Kraken were opportunistic on the Grade-A chances they did get, albeit from a distance. Two of their goals came off of odd-man rushes, and the one that stood as the game-winner came on a five-on-three power-play goal that deflected off Noel Acciari and in past a screened Joel Blomqvist.
"It's real frustrating," Sullivan said. "I thought for the majority of the game, we carried the play, but you can't hand teams easy offense like we did. When you look at the goals that they scored, it's just too easy. It makes it hard to win."
The Penguins' 2-3 start to this road trip is sure making it hard to get back into a playoff spot. With the other wild card-hopefuls gaining ground, the Penguins have fallen to seven points out of a playoff spot. They sit next-to-last in the Eastern Conference, seven points ahead of the last-place Sabres.
Playoff hopes are fading. Losing Malkin for any significant amount of time would surely accelerate that process.
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Taylor Haase
4:58 am - 01.26.2025SeattlePenguins lose Malkin, points in another 'frustrating' result
The Penguins could find themselves without Evgeni Malkin for some time following their 4-1 loss to the Kraken here at Climate Pledge Arena on Saturday.
Malkin left the game midway through the first period after a collision in the neutral zone with the Kraken's Chandler Stephenson. Malkin's left knee collided with Stephenson's left leg as Malkin attempted to skate past him, and Malkin's leg appeared to bend inward at the knee:
Malkin sat on the bench hunched over in pain speaking with an athletic trainer for some time before walking down the tunnel to the Penguins' locker room, first stopping to stretch out that leg. He returned to the bench after several minutes and took a 37-second shift before leaving the ice and returning to the Penguins' locker room for good.
Mike Sullivan didn't have an update on Malkin after the game, and said he didn't have a sense yet on whether Malkin is going to miss any kind of substantial time.
The Penguins were already short-handed coming into this game. An injury to Bryan Rust and an illness to Blake Lizotte left the Penguins with 11 forwards, and so Boko Imama was recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the morning to give them the full 12. But a roster spot needed to be cleared in order to fit Imama, forcing Owen Pickering to be sent down to the AHL -- a move that likely would have happened anyway before the road trip for long-term development benefits, but was forced to happen now for roster management reasons.
If Malkin is to miss any amount of time, the Penguins could free up a necessary roster spot for a recall by putting him on regular injured reserve, which is an option if he is to miss at least seven days.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton's top two centers wouldn't be options for a recall. Tristan Broz is sidelined for the foreseeable future as he works to regain the strength he lost after a bout of mononucleosis, and Boris Katchouk isn't on an AHL contract, and signing him would put the Penguins at the maximum 50 contracts. Vasily Ponomarev would make the most sense if a center is wanted. Or, if the Penguins want to shift one of their existing wingers like Drew O'Connor over to center and recall a winger, a case could really be made for any of Emil Bemstrom, Rutger McGroarty, Ville Koivunen, Jesse Puljujarvi, Valtteri Puustinen or Sam Poulin with their play of late. There would be options.
Either way, losing Malkin could be a serious blow. This road trip could prove to be a pivotal one in the tight wild card race.
"You never want to see guys go down to injury, but every team goes through it," Kevin Hayes said. "It's just a next-man-up mentality."
The loss of Malkin was the cherry on top of an otherwise frustrating game for the Penguins. They really did well to control the play for stretches of the game, and control the high-danger areas of the ice. At five-on-five, the Penguins led in shot attempts (61-36), unblocked attempts (47-25) and shots (28-19). In all situations, they had a significant 16-2 lead in high-danger attempts, and a 9-0 lead in high-danger shots on goal, the only time they didn't allow a high-danger shot on goal in a game this season.
But the Kraken were opportunistic on the Grade-A chances they did get, albeit from a distance. Two of their goals came off of odd-man rushes, and the one that stood as the game-winner came on a five-on-three power-play goal that deflected off Noel Acciari and in past a screened Joel Blomqvist.
"It's real frustrating," Sullivan said. "I thought for the majority of the game, we carried the play, but you can't hand teams easy offense like we did. When you look at the goals that they scored, it's just too easy. It makes it hard to win."
The Penguins' 2-3 start to this road trip is sure making it hard to get back into a playoff spot. With the other wild card-hopefuls gaining ground, the Penguins have fallen to seven points out of a playoff spot. They sit next-to-last in the Eastern Conference, seven points ahead of the last-place Sabres.
Playoff hopes are fading. Losing Malkin for any significant amount of time would surely accelerate that process.
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