After losing four in a row the Penguins have been able to take their last four points over the Philadelphia Flyers and the Edmonton Oilers. They are still in the second wild card spot which would have to face Tampa Bay in round one. They are three points clear of Carolina to hold that spot.

I do not condone Malkin’s actions of swinging his stick, but I can understand where he is coming from

Malkin on his altercation with Raffl: "I missed five games because I had a problem with my neck. He hit me behind my neck. I'm upset."

Read more: https://t.co/freFHaalYC pic.twitter.com/2Ia48E2m2r

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) February 14, 2019

I have a problem with how Raffl’s shot to Malkin’s head and neck area is considered a normal hockey play which goes without penalty. If I missed an extended period of time with a neck injury and was targeted from my blindside the first game back in that area I would be pissed off too. Again, Malkin doesn’t get a free pass because of this information. He deserved his suspension. This is just another case of the NHL facilitating an environment that makes these incidents possible. They love negligence.

Some good news with the lineup. Justin Schultz seems to be ready to return to the lineup. Here is how things looked at practice

Guentzel-Crosby-Rust
Kessel-Malkin-Bjugstad
Blueger-McCann-Hornqvist
ZAR-Cullen-Wilson
Out: Pearson-Simon

Dumoulin-Letang
Johnson-Schultz
Pettersson-Ruhwedel
Out: Riikola

So without Maatta it was a forgone conclusion that Johnson would stay in the top four. It’s still good to see Schultz’s name back in the lineup.

The forward lines are OK. The only problem I have is that Dominik Simon does not deserve to be out of the lineup. He has a 1.92 points per 60. Like any player Simon has strengths and weaknesses. I’m of the opinion that those weaknesses better be catastrophic to bench a player with that kind of 5v5 productions. I don’t see weaknesses that merit a benching.

Tanner Pearson is playing himself off the roster. I can’t see Jim Rutherford letting this experiment play out too much longer if he finds a taker. Teddy Blueger has definitely earned his playing time. I’m glad to see Pearson get demoted with Blueger getting a chance.

Thanks for reading!

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