Penguins Update: Malkin on the Rise

He’s been skating in Sidney Crosby’s considerable shadow for most of the season. Hiding in plain sight, as the old saying goes.

Well, don’t look now. But Evgeni Malkin has quietly been stealing the spotlight of late. Not to mention the club scoring lead.

It’s a welcome turnaround from an uneven start to the campaign, when questionable decision-making resulted in a slew of turnovers and undisciplined penalties. Habits that were quick to draw the attention of Penguins coach Mike Sullivan.

And now? Malkin has shifted into top gear while curbing his negative tendencies.

Indeed, “Geno’s” been on a roll. Beginning with an assist in a losing effort against Minnesota on November 25, the two-time scoring champ’s piled up 20 points in his past 13 games, including six goals.

The rise continued on Tuesday night. Doing a pretty fair imitation of the Lemieux-esque force who dominated the NHL in 2008-09 and again in ’11-12, Malkin tallied a goal and two assists to pace a 7-2 thrashing of the Rangers. His efforts earned him the game’s first star.

In particular, his second-period goal was a thing of beauty. Slicing diagonally across the New York zone, No. 71 whipped a made-to-order feed from Chris Kunitz over Antti Raanta’s blocker pad in against-the-grain fashion, a goal that staked the Pens to a 2-1 lead.

Four minutes later he set up Phil Kessel on the power play with a crisp cross-ice pass from the sideboards. The Russian marvel capped his three-point night early in the final frame, wresting the puck from Dan Girardi and sending it up the wall to Justin Schultz, who cashed in on a sharp-angle shot.

Vintage Malkin.

Through much of his recent surge Geno’s been flanked by Kunitz and Kessel, himself off to a strong start with 33 points in as many games. However, Sullivan shuffled his line combinations in the wake of back-to-back overtime losses to Los Angeles and Toronto.

“I still believe that we’re at our best when we have the balance, and we have threats on all of our lines,” the Pens’ coach explained. “So when we load our group up and we put Geno and Phil together, and we load it up on the top six, I think it’s an easier matchup game for our opponents.”

Malkin’s new unit—featuring Kunitz and Swedish banger Patric Hornqvist on the wings—led the charge against the Rangers with two goals and six points.

The big center seemed pleased with the results.

“I know how (Hornqvist) plays, I know Kuni pretty well,” Malkin said. “It worked tonight, I hope it’s not the last game we play together. I hope it’ll work every game.”

He’s enjoying himself, too.

“It’s more fun when you score goals, you know?” Geno said with a smile.

Great news for the Pens. Bad news for black-and-gold foes.