The Penguins enter Thursday’s game against New Jersey on a five-game win streak. But before that, they had been struggling with Malkin sidelined.
His last outing was Dec. 4 in Tampa, where Malkin scored twice, getting the winner in the final minutes. He wasn’t feeling any pain afterward, but said he woke up the next morning and couldn’t move his shoulder/arm.
“I feel so nice after the Tampa game, we win, I score a couple goals. But then, next day, I do not feel great,” Malkin said.
The initial thought was that his recovery would be day-to-day, but it turned out to be longer-term.
“It’s (a) weird injury, but not crazy. It's small things, but it's annoying,” Malkin said. “Every day it's like, pain. And again, last couple of weeks, I do lots of stuff. Last probably three or four days, I feel so much better. And again, I hope (to be) back this week.”
The 38-year-old was adamant that he wanted to enter the final season of his current contract with the right mindset, which was to come to the rink, do his best and enjoy every day.
It resulted in a tremendous first couple months of the season from both an individual and team perspective. At the time of his injury, Malkin ranked second on the team with 26 points, and had gotten on the scoresheet in 11 of 15 contests.
When it comes to picking up where he left off, Malkin joked wryly that he’s been through plenty of injuries in his two decades with Pittsburgh.
“It's not my first time back,” he said. “I know what the feeling is like. I feel great. My body, I work out every day, my legs feel great. I need to play a couple shifts, and I think I will be fine. We have a great team. My linemates, teammates, they support me so much. You need to play a little bit, and your confidence back, for sure.”
The Penguins went winless in nine of the first 10 games Malkin was out, posting a 1-4-4 record. Their only victory in that stretch came on Dec. 21 versus Montreal, and that night, Sidney Crosby passed Mario Lemieux to become the Penguins’ all-time points leader. Malkin awarded his longtime teammate, friend and brother the postgame helmet, as he had been the last one to receive it.
“Very proud for him. It's like, probably not surprised,” Malkin said. “Every year, we see what (he’s) done. He works out, on ice, in practice, in game, he's doing (an) amazing job. He's leadership, in the locker room, on ice.”
At that point, Malkin’s trademark humor came out.
“But I'm behind him, you know?” he laughed. “Like, I'm still here, and he's feeling it, you know? (It’s) why he played good, because he wants to be number one, for sure.”
