After a stretch of games which saw the Penguins lose seven out of nine games they are now piecing together more wins than losses as we head down the stretch of the regular season. They have taken nine out of their last 12 standings points including a 4-0 victory over the Boston Bruins and yesterday’s 7-2 dominance over the Detroit Red Wings.
Over this time period we saw Jake Guentzel hit 40 goals, Sidney Crosby hit 30 goals for the tenth time, and Kris Letang just tied his career high in points with 67. The cherry on top is Evgeni Malkin is back from suspension and scored twice in his return. The Penguins aren’t doing anything unless all these players are performing and at the moment things are trending in the proper direction with them.
Rickard Rakell picked up another two points and now has four goals and 13 points in 15 games with the Penguins. He has done exactly what the Penguins have needed to since the trade. His addition was a must and gives the Penguins a chance to spread out some of the scoring. The team has a legit top six right now and it allows Malkin to have Bryan Rust. If the Malkin line can get it going the team can be a handful. Yesterday, Zucker-Malkin-Rust had a CF 19 and CA 8 and an xGF% of 73.04. Here’s some of their handy work
MALKAMANIA, PART TWO. pic.twitter.com/auRzU4oI5E
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) April 23, 2022
There are only three more regular season games to be played and one of those will be today at 4PM against the Flyers. The team needs to keep their legs and their health and we’ll see where the chips fall in round one.
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