Penguins’ Evgeni Malkin Is Close To A Return
The Pittsburgh Penguins are playing well of late. Sidney Crosby is back in his usual top form and the team is 7-2-1 in their last 10 games. After struggling to score in the early going, the Pens are averaging 3.2 goals per game over their last ten contests. Things could get even better soon when forward Evgeni Malkin returns to the lineup from his lower body injury.
There’s still a bit of ambiguity on just how close Malkin is to returning to action. Word in the Pittsburgh sports media is that he’s likely to miss his seventh straight game when the Penguins play the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night. And although there hasn’t been panic in the Penguins’ locker room, the local media is noting that despite the team’s solid record in their past ten all three of those losses came without Malkin. Overall, Pittsburgh is 3-2-1 without Malkin who is essential to the team’s fortunes since he takes a good bit of scoring pressure off of Sidney Crosby. He’s also a vital part of the power play and Pittsburgh has gone 1-12 in man advantage situations without Malkin on the ice.
Several days ago, Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan gave this update on Malkin’s condition and timetable for a return: “He had a good day today (Sunday. It’s encouraging. Hopefully he continues to make progress, he’s that much closer. We’ll evaluate him when we get back (to Pittsburgh) after Monday’s game.” Sullivan updated the situation earlier today saying that Malkin has been skating and is ready to rejoin practice: “He skated the last few days and it went well. He’s making progress. The next step obviously will be for him to join the team, but we haven’t made that decision. I think it’s getting closer to being day-to-day.”
The Penguins play three games in four days starting with Detroit on Thursday night. There’s some speculation that he could return for one, if not both of the games this weekend. If that doesn’t happen–and barring any kind of setback in his recovery–a return to action for Malkin would be very likely on February 24 at Boston or at home on February 27 against the Winnipeg Jets.