20 points in 14 matches and a historic achievement: how Malkin returned the status of the main star of Pittsburgh

Eugene Malkin pleased his personal fans with another outstanding performance and deservedly became the main star of the match with Colorado. The Russian forward of Pittsburgh chalked up a goal and an assist, which helped his team win another victory in the NHL regular season.

First, Malkin organized an attack on the gates of Pavel Franzouz, which Brian Rast embodied in a goal, and then scored himself. Eugene was in the opponent's zone, received a transfer from Dominic Kahun and sent the puck right into the corner. Most of the time ended with a score of 3: 3, and in overtime, Jared McCann helped the team from Pennsylvania to prevail. Mike Sullivan’s wards took third place in the Eastern Conference standings and reduced the gap from the leading “Washington” to six points.

Although even in mid-November, such arrangements seemed almost unrealistic. Team captain Sidney Crosby was forced to lie down for surgery, as a result of which the burden of leadership fell solely on Malkin. Given the not-so-successful last season, many doubted whether Eugene could even help Pittsburgh stay in the playoffs, but the team did not even think of slowing down. He quickly rebuilt, after which he began to stamp one winning streak after another. Moreover, the main character has invariably remained the Russian striker.

This was also mentioned by mentor Mike Sullivan. After a major victory over Ottawa with a score of 5: 2, the specialist expressed respect for his leader.

“I like the sustainability of Pittsburgh, we have become one team. I don’t have enough words to say enough about the players. Malkin is a real stallion. He drags us along every night, ”quotes the Pens Inside Scoop coach.

The peak of Malkin's form fell in the last month. In 14 matches, he scored 20 (7 + 13) points and became the Pittsburgh top scorer for this period. The same amount in Bryan Rast's piggy bank, but this is due to the fact that the American plays with Eugene in one link. Of course, he is good both in the "tray of shells" and in the end, but the main organizer of the attacks is the Russian. It is noteworthy that the top three also included the club's top scorer Jake Gentzel, but at the end of December he received heavy damage and was eliminated for a period of four to six months.

Amid a trauma epidemic and ever-changing link partners, Malkin’s results are more than impressive. Despite all the above factors, he continued to steadily gain points and has already reached 42 points. In 31 matches, he chalked up 13 abandoned goals and 29 assists, which can be called an excellent indicator. Especially considering the health problems, due to which he was forced to miss about a month.

For comparison, in the 2018/19 season, he scored 72 points in 68 matches and took only 46th place in the scorers rating. Given the status and skill of Eugene, a similar result was rated as unsatisfactory, and an unsuccessful performance at the World Cup in Slovakia only exacerbated the situation. Many concluded that the peak of Malkin’s career was left behind and hastened to write him off.

Of course, in view of the long absence, Malkin cannot yet compete on equal terms with the leaders of the scorer race and takes only 26th place. But by the number of points per game (1.35), he not only exceeds his last year's performance (1.06), but also takes seventh place in the league. Above only Brad Marchand, Artemy Panarin, David Pastrniak, Nathan McKinnon, Leon Dreisaytl and Connor McDavid. For comparison, a year ago, he shared 24th place in Jack Ikeel.

Another major difference from last season is the high rate of utility. If a year ago, Eugene had “-25” in his liabilities and was one of the seven worst players in the league, now he is among the top twenty. While the Russian was on ice, his team scored 16 goals more than they missed. At the head of the list are three defenders - Dougie Hamilton, Ryan Graves (both “29”) and Jacob Slavin (“26”). Among the attackers, Panarin with “21” holds the championship.

Malkin’s high-quality game not only helps his team succeed and compete on equal terms with the strongest NHL teams, but also to write his name in history himself. So, the transfer to Rasta in a meeting with Colorado became the 640th for him in an overseas career and helped to become the third best assistant in the Penguins. He caught up with Jaromir Jagr and is second only to the same Crosby and Mario Lemieux.

In addition, during the season, Malkin became only the seventh Russian hockey player who scored 400 goals in the National Hockey League, also beat Alexander Mogilny and took third place in the ranking of the top scorers among the Russians. It is worth noting that it took him only 883 meetings to reach the mark of 1044 (404 + 640) points, which is the best result among compatriots. In terms of the score for the game (1.18), he is even ahead of Alexander Ovechkin (1.11).

Therefore, it is not surprising that at the end of the year the International Hockey Federation (IIHF) included Malkin in the symbolic national team of the decade. The three-time Stanley Cup holder was made up of goalkeeper Pekka Rinne, defenders Drew Doughty and Shea Weber, as well as forwards Sidney Crosby and William Nyulander.