The Pittsburgh Penguins had been hoping to get star middle Evgeny Malkin again for the Stanley Cup playoffs, however he was an surprising absence from Game 1 in opposition to the Islanders.
Pittsburgh penguins Are a franchise cursed by accidents. Despite this, the crew at all times appears to get success even when they’ve a star out. One of these stars is Evgeni Malkin. Malkin has struggled with accidents this season, however the crew was optimistic that they’d ask him to begin the postseason, the place Malkin has traditionally achieved a ton of injury. They additionally took him again for the ultimate few common season video games.
Unfortunately for Pittsburgh, Game 1 has began in opposition to the New York Islanders and Malkin was not within the lineup. Without his star Russian, trade deadline acquisition Jeff Carter jumped into the second line to replace him.
To his credit score, Penn carried out fairly properly down the stretch with out Malkin. They had been capable of rally in March and April, with a push from the Washington Capitals and the Boston Bruins to take the top-ranked MassMetal East division.
Is it time for the penguins to fret?
Malkin participated within the train, which means that he’s at the least near returning. But it’s fairly worrying that he was not capable of play in Game 1. Typically, gamers will push it into the publish season if they aren’t 100%. Malkin’s absence suggests that he’s not as near 100% as Penn would love.
Without him, the Penguins must discover different methods of inflicting crime. Crosby must take a significant a part of that stress, however he proved that he trusted work. Carter has achieved properly in a small pattern dimension and will have had sufficient left within the tank for a succesful substitute till Malkin recovers.
All of that stated, it isn’t time for the Penguins to be anxious about Malkin – but. If he misses Game 2, I believe you want to be just a little anxious.
