2009 Stanley Cup final: Malkin joins some elite company

by James Mirtle on Jun 5, 2009 4:45 AM CDT Comment 6 comments

Boy, has Evgeni Malkin ever had a turnaround from his performance in the finals last season. He's been phenomenal, and now leads all players in the series with seven points and is easily the front-runner for the Conn Smythe.

In terms of single-season performances in the playoffs, he's also way up among some of the best totals of all-time. Malkin's 35 points are the highest figure since both Wayne Gretzky and Doug Gilmour turned the trick 16 years ago:

Malkin-scoring_medium

Incredible. And he's potentially got three more games to rack up points in.

Sidney Crosby's not far behind now with 31 (the third-place players, Franzen and Zetterberg, are 13 points back of Malkin) and he also had a terrific game on Thursday night. I especially liked his one-timed pass to Tyler Kennedy for the game's fourth goal, one of three highlight reel tallies in a 5:37 span in the second that essentially gave Pittsburgh Game 4.

It was great, too, to see Jordan Staal use his wingspan and his speed when he scored shorthanded. He's always seemed to never be able to make use of all of his talents in big games but can clearly be a difference maker if he does. (If he keeps this up, I'll stop pointing out the Pens drafted him instead of 'Hawks captain Jonathan Toews... maybe.)

Finally some beautiful goals in this series – and now a guarantee it'll go at least six games. Detroit looks gassed, and they're only going to get one night off before playing at home sweet home Saturday. The series' first two-day break comes Sunday and Monday, and the Red Wings look like they'll need it. Getting Pavel Datsyuk back would also be huge.

(The one positive for Detroit was the fact they heavily outshot the Pens again, and it seemed as though they were directing all kinds of pucks towards Marc-Andre Fleury all game. In addition to holding the lead in shots (39-31), the Wings had 15 more shots blocked and an additional 15 miss the net for a combined 69 attempts. Pittsburgh had just 43, so give Fleury credit for weathering the storm. Detroit dominated at the faceoff dot, too.)

That's all from me for now. As always, I highly recommend checking out what some of the other fellows at SB Nation are saying over at the playoff hub. From The Rink will be back at full strength come Game 5 and beyond.

Can't wait.

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Staal’s goal was great…Sheer abuse of Rafalski…

by Hawerchuk on Jun 5, 2009 6:53 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Rafalski is a bum!

by Mandmeisterx on Jun 5, 2009 11:10 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Rafalski had a terrible game from the first minute in. It was shameful.

by Habs on Jun 5, 2009 3:52 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

If Geno can pick up only 3 points in the next 2 or 3 games, he joins Wayne and Mario as the only guys to ever score 38 Pts. Truly amazing feat.

Not that Coffey, Bossy and Gilmour aren’t incredible company to keep already, but expelling Coffey from the elite 3 would be as impressive as scoring over 150 Pts in a season.

An don’t count Sid out. If he collects 5 Pts in three games, all of a sudden Bossy and Gilmour’s 35 Pts become as marginal as Messier, Sakic, Leetch and Recchi’s totals of 34. What yesterday was the elite five of Gretzky, Lemieux, Coffey, Bossy and Gilmour, turns into the elite five of Gretzky, Lemieux, Coffey, Malkin and Crosby.

Cup or no Cup, Sid or Geno should take home the Conn Smythe.

by TD O'Dell on Jun 5, 2009 7:32 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

at the start

at the start of the finals i was saying sid because of his domminance against the caps and canes. now im saying geno. has has produced at such a high level AND at such key moments it is amazing to watch. but if the redwings manage to snatcha series victory here the only way they do is if osgood returns to his previous conn smythe form

" I AM CAPATIN CHAOS, and this is my trusty Sidekick cato. Say hello Cato"
Dom Deluise 1933-2009, Cannonball run

by oldtimehockey09 on Jun 5, 2009 1:27 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Agreed.

If the Pens go on to win the series, in my mind the turning point of the series is without question Malkin’s shorthanded breakaway in Game 4. Even though he didn’t score, that charged up the Penguin bench and very shortly thereafter Jordan Staal goes down the ice and rings up the shorty. Throw in Geno’s play at the Pittsburgh blueline to produce the 2-on-1 that ends with Crosby’s go-ahead goal and the case for Malkin as Series MVP can be made in about a six-minute span of the second period from that game. And the guy is playing some defense too. Brilliant.

jrwendelman
The Artist Formerly Known as "Junior", who blogs at heroesinrehab.ca/blog

"But if someone so eager to engage into fist talk, we can always meet after season end in Minsk." (Mikhail Grabovski and a well-meaning but not particularly skillful translator)

by jrwendelman on Jun 5, 2009 2:24 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs