Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin inches closer to return
Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin’s status will be a game-time decision for Saturday’s afternoon game at home against the Edmonton Oilers, according to coach Mike Sullivan.
Malkin practiced for a third day this week on Friday in Cranberry. He skated primarily on the team’s second line with Alex Galchenyuk and Patric Hornqvist on his wings.
“He looks good,” Sullivan said. “He’s participating in a full capacity. His conditioning is improving with each day that he practices with us. It looks really encouraging.
“We’ll see how he responds after today’s practice, but it certainly looks very encouraging.”
Malkin, who was activated from injured reserve, has been limited to two games this season because of an undisclosed injury he suffered Oct. 5. In those two contests, he primarily played with Galchenyuk and forward Brandon Tanev. Hornqvist’s potential addition would represent a reunion with Malkin as they have sporadically played on the same line over the past half decade.
Above all else, his signature blunt style of play is seen as an ideal counter-balance to the skill and artistry offered by Malkin and Galchenyuk.
“One of the things we like about (Hornqvist) is his straight-ahead game,” Sullivan said. “He goes to the net. He’s strong on pucks, he can force turnovers. I think he can create space for those guys. That’s essentially what (Hornqvist) does for every line that we put him on. When we choose to put him with Malkin’s line, that’s what he does for that line. He’s played with (Malkin) a fair amount over the last few years. So there’s some familiarity there.
“That’s one of the things that we talked about when we decided to put him there. But we like his straight-ahead game.”
The Penguins lines during practice were:
Jake Guentzel — Sidney Crosby — Dominik Simon
Alex Galchenyuk — Evgeni Malkin — Patric Hornqvist
Jared McCann/Dominik Kahun — Nick Bjugstad — Bryan Rust
Zach Aston-Reese — Teddy Blueger — Brandon Tanev
Kahun, who has scored four points (two goals, two assists) in the past two games, rotated on the third line with McCann.
The defense:
Brian Dumoulin — Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson — Justin Schultz
Jack Johnson — John Marino
Juuso Riikola — Chad Ruhwedel
The first power-play squad was composed of Crosby, Guentzel, Letang, Malkin and Schultz.
The second power-play group involved a combination of Bjugstad, Dumoulin, Galchenyuk, Hornqvist, Kahun and Pettersson.
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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