Malkin's Magnificent Milestone Night

Evgeni Malkin added another achievement to his Hall of Fame career when he notched his 1,400^th career point on a power-play goal in Saturday’s 9-4 win over Florida.

Malkin became the 23^rd player in NHL history, and 15^th fastest, to do so, as he got it in his 1,266^th career game. He joins Sidney Crosby and Mario Lemieux as the only players in the franchise’s history to reach the mark.

Malkin also became the fifth player born outside of North America to get the milestone, following Jaromir Jagr (1,921), Alex Ovechkin (1,682), Stan Mikita (1,467) and Teemu Selanne (1,457).

“It’s an amazing number, for sure. It’s one team, it's huge,” Malkin said. “I love to play here. I love to play with (Sidney Crosby), (Kris Letang), (Erik Karlsson). But we have a great team right now, you know? We played hard… I don't want to stop, and I want the next milestone to be fifteen (hundred).”

The milestone marker was just the beginning of a magnificent night for Malkin. At age 39, he became the oldest player in Penguins history to record a hat trick. When he netted the third goal, chants of “Geno! Geno! Geno!” started breaking out around PPG Paints Arena as hats fell from the sky. The fans gave their beloved franchise forward a standing ovation.

"I almost cried a little bit, you know? It’s huge for me,” Malkin said. “I scored a hat trick a long time ago, I don’t remember when I scored last time. Again, it’s lots of emotion. And I want to say thank you. Thank you for the support for myself, (the) team. It’s crazy.”

With Saturday’s performance, Malkin now has 57 points (18G-39A) in 53 games during his 21^st NHL season.

“Everything he's done has been impressive,” Penguins Head Coach Dan Muse said. “To be doing what he's been doing for as long as he has, it's incredible. The level that he's playing at, it's a huge credit to him, his preparation, and just everything that he's been doing and been doing for a very long time.”

Malkin’s production aside, what the organization has liked most this season is the mentorship he has shown with the young Russian-speaking players: Egor Chinakhov, Ilya Solovyov and Arturs Silovs.

“The year that Geno's had has been spectacular for someone who's 39 years old. But more importantly, it's been watching him as we've had some of these guys come in, and the way that Geno has handled them from the leadership side, it's really been special to watch,” President of Hockey Operations and GM Kyle Dubas said.

“They speak openly about the impact that he's had on them. With Geno, that impact sort of goes under the radar. Maybe it's not talked about as much, but he brings a lot to our program.”

Throughout this season, Malkin has made sure to invite those players to dinner, both at home and on the road. He has built his legacy on humor and heart, and those qualities certainly shine through when the group is together.

“Every story he tells, I find myself laughing at,” Chinakhov said. “He’s a really good teammate.”

In addition to those lighthearted moments, Malkin has also been there to help them through challenging times.

“He just takes care of us, especially on road trips,” Solovyov said. “We’ll spend two to three hours just talking about life, about everything. It has helped me a lot, especially mentally. Like, everybody has a bad game sometimes, but he always tries to bring us together and not be alone when you feel bad.”

It means a lot to spend time with a player of Malkin’s stature, especially since Solovyov and Chinakhov spent their entire childhoods watching his highlights, wanting to be like him.

“I just started to look up towards him in every way,” Solovyov said. “Since we don’t have many players from Belarus, we always watched the Russian guys. It’s just very crazy to sit in the same locker room as him.”

In addition to the leadership, Dubas mentioned how Malkin has obviously brought a lot of very special moments and individual awards and championships to Pittsburgh, “but more importantly, helping the team to play at a high standard and win over his time with the team.”

Malkin wants nothing more than to get the Penguins back into the playoffs, and is thrilled that they are in a position to do just that.

“I'm glad (with) how the team play right now, and I'm glad we're fighting for playoffs, because the last three years, we know we're not happy,” Malkin said. “Season almost over, but we see what's going on. Playoffs, it’s the best time in the year.”