The Pens get some good news on the injury front
Evgeni Malkin has been out since a knee injury on January 25th, but according to the player himself he is 100% going to be back when the Penguins come out of their break on Saturday.
Evgeni Malkin (lower body) said he is healthy and good to go for Saturday’s game. “Oh yeah, 100 percent. I mean, I expect to play in the last game against the Rangers, but it’s a little bit dangerous and I know we have 10 days of a break. It helped to recover 100 percent.”
— Pens Inside Scoop (@PensInsideScoop) February 19, 2025
That’s good news for a Pittsburgh team that has missed Malkin severely. The Pens averaged just 2.14 goals/game (15 total goals, 29th in the league) in the seven games without their other star center. Sidney Crosby had seven points in that stretch, meaning that supporting players barely generated as many goals (8) as the team played games (7) while Malkin was on the shelf.
In other Penguin news, it looks like Bryan Rust is tracking back towards playing as well after being a full-go in practice over the last two games. The Pens are giving Rickard Rakell and Erik Karlsson a few days off after their participation with Team Sweden and neither are expected back on the ice again until Friday.
Like the rest of us, Malkin has been watching and marveling at Sidney Crosby’s performance at the 4 Nations Face-off.
Evgeni Malkin on Sidney Crosby in #4Nations: “First star, first game. It’s amazing. He had three assists, I think. He’s played amazing games. It doesn’t matter how he feels, he plays 100 percent. This is what I like [about] him, you know? He plays 100 percent every game.”
— Wes Crosby (@OtherNHLCrosby) February 19, 2025
While being extremely complimentary of Mike Sullivan, Malkin also predicted Crosby and Team Canada will come out with the victory of tomorrow night’s championship game.