By Shelly Anderson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/?m=1
MONTREAL -- Sergei Gonchar and his family housed Evgeni Malkin and spent a lot of time feeding the younger Russian during his early days in the NHL.
Malkin has his own house now, but Gonchar still does a fair job of doing the same thing on the ice.
Tuesday night, Gonchar fed Malkin for a crucial power-play goal as the Penguins broke a scoreless tie in the third period en route to a 2-0 win against Montreal and a 2-1 second-round series lead over the Canadiens.
"Of course I'm happy I scored and we won and I helped my team," Malkin said, then smiled. "I hope it's not the last [win] in the series."
Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press
Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin celebrates his goal with defenseman Sergei Gonchar during the third period Tuesday's game at The Bell Centre in Montreal.
Malkin has taken some heat -- and put some pressure on himself -- for not playing at what might be expected to be an appropriate level for the playoffs.
A year ago, he had 14 goals and averaged a 11/2 points game in winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as NHL playoff MVP while helping the Penguins win the Stanley Cup.
His goal last night -- his first after four games without one -- gives him five goals, 10 points in nine playoff games this year.
Was the winning goal a response to his critics?
"Yeah, it's my message," Malkin said, his grin indicating he was being mostly, but not completely facetious.
"I'm happy I scored, but I'm not playing at 100 percent. I want to play more to help my team."
Pressed about ending what some might call a slump, Malkin shrugged.
"It's not too important to me," he said. "We won. That's it. We lead the series, 2-1. I'm happy to win."
There apparently has been a little moping this postseason.
"He gets kind of down on himself, but he's got a pretty good support group in here," defenseman Brooks Orpik said of Malkin. "I think he expects a lot of himself, along with all the fans -- and all the guys in here expect a lot of him.
"He knows when he's playing well and when he's not and when he's got to play better."
One situation where Malkin has been better than most is on the power play.
On his goal last night, from above the right circle, he used teammate Sidney Crosby as a screen in front of the net and blasted the puck past Montreal goaltender Jaroslav Halak.
"It seems like we're having good chemistry with him," Gonchar said. "It seems like we're finding those lanes. You see on that goal we had someone in front. It's kind of a five-[man] effort when we scored the goal."
Four of Malkin's five goals in these playoffs have come on the power play.
Not that his teammates are necessarily keeping track of such things.
"I don't mind" if the majority of Malkin's goals are with a man-advantage, Gonchar said. "As long as we're winning."Malkin, 23, has not lived with Gonchar for some time, since he bought a house in the Pittsburgh area, but he now has someone else feeding him away from the arena.
After waiting all season for his family to get visa issues worked out, parents Natalia and Vladimir Malkin and their other son, Denis, arrived last week. That means Mom's borscht and other comforts from home.
"It helps me because I'm not living by myself," Malkin said. "It's very important for me. They helped me."
Shelly Anderson: shanderson@post-gazette.com.
Penguins Plus, a blog by Dave Molinari and Shelly Anderson, is featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.
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