The Pittsburgh Penguins have no won ten games in a row and last night against the Philadlephia Flyers it looked like they were gunning for ten goals. They got more than halfway there as they defeated their main rival 6-2. The Flyers were understaffed and have had a pretty terrible season. The Penguins are playing like one of the best teams in the league at the moment.
These blogs lately have been a broken record because the same players keep playing great. Evan Rodrigues scored again, that’s 15 on the year. Bryan Rust had another two goals and now has nine on the season. Rust scored two goals in 12 games in the 2021 portion of this season. In 2022 he has seven(!) goals in only three games. Jake Guentzel had another two goals and has points in 16 straight games he has played. Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang both had multi-point evenings. The one difference in this game was Tristan Jarry getting the start after seeing DeSmith get a few in a row due to Jarry’s COVID situation.
The most exciting part of this game is the fact it is over and when the Penguins hit the road to go west we will see a Penguins legend return to the lineup. It is about that time for Evgeni Malkin. He is by far one of the most interesting players to watch and, at least for me, has been sorely missed. Successful hockey isn’t always interesting hockey (Penguins have been both interesting and successful lately) and when Malkin is in the lineup it gives a level of intrigue that isn’t there otherwise.
With Malkin’s return comes the reality that somebody will be taken off the power play to accommodate him. This absolutely should happen and it is dumb every time people try to make the argument he shouldn’t go back because of “chemistry… or whatever else. As of right now, even with the seven goals in three games, I think Bryan Rust would be my candidate to be taken off. I like what Evan Rodrigues is doing and I want to see if he can keep it up. If you recall back to last season Jared McCann was doing a great job on the power play in Malkin’s absence, but you don’t put Malkin on the back burner. You put him out on the power play where he has been one of the most dangerous players of his era. End of story.
The Penguins travel to Dallas tomorrow. Dare I say they have a full lineup? They’re getting there while also riding a ten game winning streak. Things are looking up.
Thanks for reading!