Welcome Back Evgeni Malkin: Pens Win 3-2

Yes, tonights game was a preseason. Yes, the score of the game and the Penguins winning means about next to nothing. However you can take away from this game is that Evgeni Malkin is ready to play this season, and he is ready to take his game back to the level that we saw him play at in the 2008-09 season. After the jump, some analysis of tonight's game. 

Penguins 3--Red Wings 2

First Period

Once the first period began you can tell that both teams were comprised of guys who understand their respective teams' system. This is why the Detroit Red Wings and the Pittsburgh Penguins have been able to survive some big injuries over the past few years.

Evgeni Malkin was flying right from the start, and the line comprising of he, Chris Kunitz, and James Neal seemed to have some chemistry early on in the tilt. During the first few moments of the first period you could tell that Geno is ready to get back to his superstar status.

The penalty killing unit was called upon at 5:19 in the period when Geoff Walker was sent to the box for two minutes for boarding. The Pens killed the penalty off and the PK unit started off the way they finished last year, by having very little trouble doing so. 

The Penguins struck first when Kunitz converted a Malkin pass by beating Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard at 11:40 of the first period. 

The Red Wings evened things up just over two minutes later on a Nicklas Kronwall wrist shot that was assisted by Pavel Datsyuk at 13:54.  

Second Period

The Pens opened the scoring in the second period with a highlight reel goal from Malkin, and the goal was not only the goal of the game, but Geno's announcement to the NHL that he will be back on top of his game. 

The Pens struck again on a power play at 13:25 off the stick of Matt Niskanen, who had a very solid game and put himself into a great position to remain in the conversation of the Pens last few defensive spots.





Third Period
The Pens took a 3-1 lead going into the locker room and Brad Thiessen replaced Marc-Andre Fleury between the pipes for the third period.


Juri Hudler pulled the Wings within one, with his goal coming at 2:48 of the third period.





The Pens would hold on and win the game 3-2, which I'm sure most of you at this point know. 


POFA's Thoughts


Evegeni Malkin--Welcome back. Dude was insane tonight. I know it was only a preseason game, but it was also his first game back from a major knee injury. Unreal. Simply Unreal.


The Power Play--the extra man unit went 1 for 3 including a 5 minute major in the third period of which they did not score. Would have liked to see at least a goal there with the five minute man advantage. We did see a bit of a new look on the power play with more fluid movement.


Matt Niskanen--Solid all around game for Matty Nice. (Sorry, Matty Ice is taken). He look confident throughout the entire game, and everyone knocked him for that lack of confidence last year. This could be a statement game from Niskanen who is looking to get his name in one of the final three spots on the Pens' NHL roster. His power play goal also turned out to be tonight's game winner.


Joseph Morrow--This kid was impressive in his first NHL game. If you listed to the game on the radio or watched it on T.V. you heard his name quite a bit, and there was nothing bad being said about him. He had the assisted on Matt Niskanen's game winner. 


Three Stars
1.  Evgeni Malkin
2.  Joseph Morrow
3.  Matt Niskanen


See you tomorrow. Let's Go Pens