PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Evgeni Malkin was named the league's first star yesterday after leading all scorers with 26 points in 14 games and pushing the Penguins to the top of the Atlantic Division and into a tie with Montreal atop the Eastern Conference.
Chaz Palla/Tribune-Review
Penguins center Evgeni Malkin has taken the NHL by storm since teammate Sidney Crosby suffered a high right ankle sprain Jan. 18 in a loss to Tampa Bay.
The league has taken notice.
Malkin was named the league's first star yesterday, essentially player of the month for February, after leading all scorers with 26 points in 14 games and pushing the Penguins to the top of the Atlantic Division and into a tie with Montreal atop the Eastern Conference.
Since Crosby was sidelined the Penguins are 11-6-4, and they now have 81 points. In those 21 games without the defending scoring champion and league MVP, Malkin has 14 goals and 36 points. He is second in the NHL in scoring with 88 points, after Washington Capitals forward Alexander Ovechkin (90) passed him with three goals and two assists last night.
The Penguins have scored 64 goals in their last 21 games, and Malkin has had a hand in 56.3 percent of the team's goals -- with some of the best checking defensemen and forwards guarding him. He is also one of only two Penguins players - Jordan Staal is the other - to dress in all 67 games this season for the injury-plagued squad.
Though the first and second overall picks in the 2004 draft will meet for the fourth and final time on Sunday at the Verizon Center, his personal showdown with his fellow Russian Ovechkin will take a backseat until after the Penguins get through games today and Thursday against Tampa Bay and Florida.
"For me, the most important thing is the team result," Malkin said through interpreter and teammate Sergei Gonchar. "Ovechkin is not motivation for me. I just try to improve my game and be better than I was last year."
With a scoring title on the line and the potential for the Penguins to win both their first division title and the top seed in the conference for the first time since 1997-98, the team will need Malkin producing at a high pace, something he wasn't able to in his rookie year.
"It was a tough situation at that time and ... (I) was dealing with a lot of things at that time," Malkin said. "Because of the preseason, (my) conditioning probably wasn't at its best, and that's probably why, at the end of the season, (I) wasn't playing as well."
Last season, after essentially defecting to the Unites States to play in the NHL and suffering a shoulder injury in training camp, he scored 70 points in his first 58 games. But over his last 20 games, he produced just four goals and 15 points and was held without a goal in the five-game playoff series against Ottawa.
"This year (I) had a much better summer workout, and he knew what to expect and what was waiting for him," Malkin said. "That's why (I'm) a lot better and much stronger now, and (I'm) much better prepared for the playoffs."
In addition to allowing Malkin to live with him for the second consecutive season, Gonchar has helped in other ways, including his offseason preparation and conditioning program.
"We work out together and we have an advantage because I've been working with the conditioning guy (Chris Stewart) for a couple of years now, and we've built a program especially for the NHL and especially for Pittsburgh with a lot of skating and all that stuff," Gonchar said. "He had an advantage in that the entire summer program was designed for him and for Pittsburgh's style, and that's one of the reasons why he's playing better."
Keith Barnes can be reached at kbarnes@tribweb.com or 724-853-2109.
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