Musings: Penguins Get Sixth Straight Win in Malkin's Return

After missing the team’s last 15 games due to injury, Evgeni Malkin made his long-awaited return to the lineup and had an immediate impact in the team’s 4-1 win over the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night at PPG Paints Arena.

“More fun when you win,” Malkin said. “You see every line play amazing. Now, we have depth, all lines. Everybody back. No injuries. (Stuart) Skinner played amazing. Power play work, penalty kill work. Stay focused. Just play right. We know we have good guys here, a good group. We know how we play. Just have fun every night.”

While Malkin said that it took him the first period to get readjusted and get over some nerves, he quickly found his feet in the second period on the team’s 5-on-3 power play opportunity. From his signature spot, Malkin delivered a trademark one-timer that beat goaltender Jake Allen to give his team a 3-0 lead.

“You see, I have a couple of chances on one (shot),” Malkin said. “I not play great. Then the second one, I missed the net. I feel so bad after. Then after, we have a 5-on-3. It’s a huge moment for me. I play the whole game. My shoulder feels great. Score goal. I tried (to) not think too much. Just focus on the next game.”

Before the game even started, fans in attendance were cheering at the return of Malkin and carried those emotions further after he was named the first star of the game.

“I missed you guys, too,” Malkin said during his on-ice interview.

In the locker room, he said, “Love our fans. Always amazing to play at home. Thanks to all the fans. We all try (to) play good games at home. It’s (very) important. When we play at home, crowd and fans love hockey here. Steelers play Monday. People love sports here. Good luck to Steelers, too, as well.”

For Malkin, both his performance and the support from the fans gave him confidence. The same can be said for Skinner, who stopped 28 out of 29 shots for his third straight win.

“It was pretty fun in there,” Skinner said on the fans chanting his name at every opportunity. “I definitely felt the support the whole game. I think the guys felt the support the whole game. It was a loud building tonight, and definitely got us going, especially at the start. So, yeah, it was nice. Keep it going.”

While the Penguins got out to an early 1-0 lead off a perfectly-placed shot from Erik Karlsson, the Devils began generating a lot of grade-A scoring chances as the first period went on, but Skinner came up with plenty of remarkable saves. He knew New Jersey would be looking to respond after a 9-0 loss to the Islanders in their last game.

“I felt good right off the get-go,” Skinner said. “Got a few shots pretty early on, which always get you into it a little bit quicker. [New Jersey] played a really good game. We were just able to score when we got our chances. And also, just the way we defended was really solid.

"The word smothering kind of comes to mind. Honestly, blocking shots, even on the PK, we're not giving up too much. Just the defensive plays, 2-on-1’s, getting sticks on pucks before it's coming back, not giving too many odd-man rushes – I mean, the guys have been a very committed group in here, and you can really tell.”

Immediately after the Penguins killed off New Jersey’s power-play opportunity in the second period, Rickard Rakell found Connor Dewar coming out of the box for a breakaway. Dewar beat Allen for his eighth goal of the season.

“I knew that I had lots of time,” Dewar said. “I just thought that I could freeze him a little bit, and shoot five-hole. It worked out pretty well.”

The fourth line of Dewar, Blake Lizotte, and Noel Acciari have been contributing on both sides of the puck. In the late stages of the third period, as the Devils were looking to push to tie the game, Dewar stopped a breakout attempt, and Acciari found Lizotte backdoor to extend the lead to 4-1.

“I think we just work hard for each other, and we’re very like-minded, and we understand our role,” Dewar said. “We just want to help this team win.”

This is the first time that the Penguins have won six games in a row since Dec. 1-15, 2022, a stretch that went on for seven games. Since the NHL resumed play after the holiday break on Dec. 27, no team has more wins than Pittsburgh’s six.

“Right when we came back from the break, we just got back to work,” Skinner said. “I feel like our details in here are really solid, and again, just like our commitment to those details. So yeah, ever since we got back, I feel like we've been rolling pretty good. It’s our job to keep that consistency going.”

The Penguins will look to build on this streak even further when they host the Calgary Flames on Saturday, followed up with a trip to Boston on Sunday.

“When you play like this, very important to stay focused and win games,” Malkin said. “Right now, huge before (the) Olympic break. Take as many points as you can. How many games left (before the break)? Like 13, 14. … Try to win lots if you can. Use your break, a little bit of rest. After break, it’s one more run before the playoffs. If you see standings, half the season is over.”

Here is more on what Head Coach Dan Muse had to say.

What did you think of Skinner’s performance?: He was awesome. It's tough sometimes when you're coming in with a new group, especially in that position. And so, it's not a surprise that maybe it takes a little bit of time there just to get up to speed, get going. But this is a guy who's been to two Finals in a row. He's done a lot of really good things in the league. And you see how he works every day. You see his preparation. You see the way he is as a teammate. When you're seeing it all the time, too, this isn't a surprise. But he was unbelievable there in the first. I thought we were working. I just didn't think our execution was there in the first period. And I thought it got better, obviously, as the game went on, but he was there for us when we needed him, for sure.

Thoughts on Geno on the wing?: It got better as the game went on, which is also to be expected. When you've been off for a little bit of time, you can't fully replicate the game in practice. It takes a little while. And that's a really positive thing when this is the first game back, and you see that progression as the game goes on, where, just both him and the line, it just got better as it went. I know he hasn't played wing, but he has gotten some time there. That's something where, even [at the] beginning of the year, sometimes spotting him up there at different points. You could see where the potential is with the group, and they got better as the game went on.

How has the team been building confidence since the holiday break?: It could be a little bit of that. But even prior to the break, there was games where, we're coming away, and I feel like we liked a lot of things. There's not one thing right now that I'm going to say is a reason that we came out of this break, more the wins started coming. There were some games prior to the break, we were playing good hockey. We just weren't consistent with it. And it wasn't for a full 60 minutes. The group as a whole, they came in, and it's a credit to them, they came out of that break, and right away, we felt refreshed just having a little bit of time. And now you start to build some momentum, and you build from one game to the next. Even those days in between, I'll go over these last couple of days, where we have a couple practice days, the guys came to work. They put in the work, they put in the time, the focus in the meetings. They're the ones that are bringing that. Obviously, when you start a game, and you can get a lead, that always helps, but it's not always gonna be the case. And I also feel like the ebbs and flows of the game are being controlled better. If I was to say one thing, in terms of [the] difference between these last six games and maybe the six to 10 games prior, it's that. It's part of a season, too. You learn from the things that go well, and you learn from the things that don't. And you keep moving forward.

On the impact of the fourth line: The impact has been huge. It's been huge, and it's been consistent. The three of them, they know one way. It's led with the work. It's direct, fast, it's hard to play against. And you're seeing them get rewarded with offense now, too. And again, they're creating offense with very, very little O-zone starts, with me sometimes pulling them off the ice and putting them back in a D-zone start when they go back on, and they find a way to get in the offensive zone. They find a way to create. But they're three guys, they kill penalties. They're out there in late-game situations. They're out there in a ton of key defensive situations. They'll play against anybody. They can play against the top line, top matchup. And when they do start in the D-zone, they usually end in the O-zone. And they've been adding offense, but you're seeing it right now, too. They're confident with the puck there in the attack, as they should be. And so you talk about consistency, there's not a lot of shifts that I've seen them take off, if any.

On handling the ebbs and flows and seizing on moments of positive reinforcement: That's something, even throughout the year, we always want to look at the things that need to be addressed. Any of these games as of late, there's always things, too, that ... we can be better here, we can continue to clean up. But we also always want to take those points that we believe are the winning details, and the things that are going well, and obviously you want to continue to build on them and highlight them and continue to show them. But that doesn't really necessarily change from the day-to- day that we've had all year.