Posts Tagged Evgeni Malkin
To MVP or not to MVP? That is the question.
After Evgeni Malkin’s spectacular performance in the Penguins, 6-2, victory of the Atlanta Thrashers on Tuesday night, how can there possibly be any question that Malkin deserves the Hart Memorial trophy, awarded to the league’s Most Valuable Player at the end of the season? Makin netted two goals and three assists for a five-point night against Atlanta. He just about made it a hat trick in the final minutes of the third period when he was awarded his first ever penalty shot, but the shot went wide. Regardless, Malkin proved himself in a big way in the game. (Catch the highlights here).
Crosby, Malkin and Gonchar cellebrate one of Malkin's two goals (photo Yahoo! Sports).
Malkin’s closest competitor for the award (besides teammate Sidney Crosby) is fellow countryman, Alexander Ovechkin. The Capitals frontman is currently trailing Malkin in the scoring race by 12 points, but he is a valid contender for the Hart Memorial none the less. Ovechkin is an excellent hockey player who plays exciting hockey. But the thing about “Geno,” as Malkin is called in Pittsburgh, is that he continually puts his team in a position to win hockey games.
“When you look at that award, it’s an award where they look for someone specifically who puts their team over and above and makes them win and (Malkin) does that for us,” Sidney Crosby said to PittsburghPenguins.com.
I’ll simply let the numbers speak for Malkin in this case. I will just leave you with one point to consider: The majority of Malkin’s point come from assists. In fact, 70 (70!) of Malkin’s 102 points are assists. He is leading the league in assists, followed closely by teammate Crosby, who has 65 assists. In my mind, there is something noble about a player who is leading the league in points but the majority of those points came from setting up his teammates. It takes humility and true team play to tally numbers like that. On the other hand, Ovechkin leads the league in goals with 49 (90 points, third best in the league).
Evgeni Malkin
Alex Ovechkin
You Decide: Who deserves to be MVP?
Add comment March 18, 2009
The Real Blood Feud
The Avs/Wings rivalry is obsolete. After the Avalanche failed to play anything that resembled hockey as the Wing’s swept the Western Conference semi-final, the celebrated blood feud is over. The real blood feud is in the Eastern Conference between the Penguins and the Rangers, who will play game five of their series in Pittsburgh Sunday at 2:00.
Thursday night was the Penguins first loss of the post season (as they swept Ottowa) and the they responded to it in frustration. By the third period, with the Penguins trailing the Rangers 2-0, the cheap shots from Pittsburgh’s bench were abundant. Malkin even resorted to kicking the skates out from under two Ranger players. The New York Times called the game the first glimpse at Penguin frustration in the series. Should Pittsburgh worry that the Rangers might stage a historic come back? “No, the only worrisome aspect of the loss was that Sidney Crosby and Malkin acted like immature kids at the end,” Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said in reference to Crosby and Malkin’s simultaneous roughing penalties in the third period of Thursday’s game. Cook goes on to explain that, “It’s almost certain that these were one-time acts by Crosby, 20, and Malkin, 21, from the frustration caused by the impenetrable Lundqvist.”
The frustration that was Lundqvist’s shutout performance. 
He stopped 29 shots and was named the first star of the game by the Professional Hockey Writers Association. We all know by now that only two teams in hockey history have come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a series, yet, Ranger captain, Jaromir Jagr, has high hopes for his team as he said to the New York Times, “I wasn’t just talking when I said I believe.”
It’s David vs. Goliath in this series for the Rangers while Pittsburgh has the home ice advantage in the game. The Post-Gazette insists that Lundqvist will not keep Malkin out of the net for another game. Perhaps the Penguins have peeked and the Rangers will make history. OR perhaps Thursday was a fluke game and the Rangers will be playing their last game of the season. One this is certain: this Blood Feud is boiling.
Add comment May 4, 2008
