The Pittsburgh Penguins entered tonight’s match up without seven of their starting players including elite center men, Sidney Crosby and Jordan Staal.
They did have Evgeni Malkin.
“Geno” scored his first hat trick since November of last year and added two assists as the Penguins rolled to an 8-3 victory over the Buffalo Sabres. The 25 year old superstar exacted revenge on the same team that ended his season last February when Sabres defenseman, Tyler Myers, fell into Malkin’s knee, tearing two ligaments. Ironically, Myers has been out with a broken wrist which gave Malkin more room to work his magic tonight.
Rookie defenseman Simon Despres scored his first career NHL goal and Carl Sneep had his first career NHL point as the most recent call up for another fallen Penguins’ player.
Last night, defenseman Paul Martin was added to an already lengthy Penguins’ injury list after falling awkwardly after a body check. It has been a tough year for Penguins’ blue liners as the team has played a significant amount of their games without Kris Letang, Zybnek Michalek, Brooks Orpik, Paul Martin, Deryk Engelland and Ben Lovejoy in the lineup at the same time. With Michalek, Letang and Lovejoy still out, the team has endured a tough stretch of games, losing 4 of their last 6.
Still, the AHL defensemen called up made a significant impact tonight. With the score at 1-0, thanks to an 80 foot slapshot by recent call-up Jason Williams, 2009 first round pick, Simon Despres, fired a one-timer through Ryan Miller for his first career goal. Sneep, playing in his first NHL game as a replacement to Martin, recorded an assist on Malkin’s second goal of the night. The Sabres scored two goals to cut the lead to three, midway through the third period, but that was as close as they could get. Evgeni Malkin scored in front on the powerplay for the hat trick and Chris Kunitz added an eighth goal two minutes later. The Penguins chased Ryan Miller in the first period with four goals and the team rolled from there.
Malkin’s masterful play goes back further than tonight. While this was only his second game with more than two points this season, Malkin has a five game point streak and 12 points during that span. With 36 points on the season, Evgeni Malkin is quickly climbing up the ladder to his second Art Ross trophy. He is currently tied for fourth in the league in points with Toronto Maple Leafs’ Joffrey Lupul while Stamkos leads the league with 39 points.
- Marc-Andre Fleury recorded his 200th win of his career.
- Craig Adams left the game with what looked to be a lower body injury.
- Sidney Crosby was placed on IR before the game but, due to the amount of time he has already missed, Crosby can be activated at any point moving forward.
- The Penguins will host their next opponent, the Chicago Blackhawks, on Tuesday at 7:30.
Photo courtesy of tri-cityherald.com
Discussion about this post