http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/
Saturday, May 2, 2009
In every drill during each Penguins practice that coach Dan Bylsma has conducted over the past 10 weeks, center Evgeni Malkin - the NHL's regular-season scoring leader, an MVP finalist and a player Wayne Gretzky recently compared to Penguins icon Mario Lemieux - is "one of the guys that goes first in line."
Yet, NBC coordinating producer Sam Flood earlier this week labeled Malkin "the subplot" of a second-round Stanley Cup playoff series between Sidney Crosby's Penguins and Alex Ovechkin's Washington Capitals.The pecking order for this series, which opens at Verizon Center this afternoon, is clear: Crosby and Ovechkin or Ovechkin and Crosby, then Malkin.
Friday afternoon, NHL Publications released a document titled "Inaugural Crosby-Ovechkin Playoff Showdown: A Rivalry Renewed."
At Capitals practice yesterday, right wing Chris Clark offered this response to a question about Malkin: "He's like Alex. ... Everyone knows his talent, but when you throw in his size and toughness, it makes him just like Alex."
Penguins defenseman Sergei Gonchar, a fellow Russian with whom Malkin lived for two years before this season, played it politically correct yesterday when asked to pick among Crosby, Ovechkin and Malkin.
"I'd take all three, but that's not fair," he said. "We have two, and we like it that way. But you can build a team around just one of them.
"They're all that good."
If that is the case, Penguins center Jordan Staal believes Crosby and Ovechkin have perhaps unwittingly steered Malkin to the pole position.
"He's taken it to another level," Staal said of Malkin, who before games last night led the playoffs in scoring (nine points in six games).
"He's figured out for himself that those two will keep improving, and if he wants to be the best he's got to pick up his game. But, honestly, Geno's become pretty unreal."
Since Jan. 1, 2008, Malkin has totaled a league-best 177 points in 126 regular-season games - a 1.40 points-per-game average. Prior to that span, Malkin averaged 1.09 points in 116 games.
Malkin has scored 14 playoff goals during the past two seasons. Crosby and Ovechkin have combined for 17.
Ovechkin is hailed as the sport's best goal-scorer. Crosby is lauded as its top playmaker.
Malkin, teammates and opponents insist, is "like both," so he has separated himself from neither.
"He's a versatile player," Capitals center Dave Steckel said yesterday. "He can adapt to however the defense is playing."
Malkin's adaptation to North American culture, Gonchar said, has played a significant role in his drive toward dominance.
"His English is better, he's more comfortable around guys in the locker room, he's a guy that bought his first house, has his family here," Gonchar said. "His comfort level off the ice is high, and it shows on the ice."
In shows off the ice, however, there seemingly is no comfort level with Malkin. His oft-smiling face is not that of a profiled player on NHL Network (Crosby). His soft-spoken voice is rarely heard during ESPN "SportsCenter" interviews (Ovechkin).
NBC, which will broadcast Game 1 today, plans to position isolation cameras and microphones on Crosby and Ovechkin. After all, as Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau said yesterday, "There are a lot of people in places that don't get a lot of hockey.
"They know who Crosby is, and they know who Ovechkin is."
A lot of people are about to find out what 2006 MVP and San Jose center Joe Thornton told the Tribune-Review in February.
Malkin, he said, "is the best hockey player in the world."
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