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Hopefully Evgeni Malkin has learned his lesson after finally getting slapped with signifcant supplemental discipline from the NHL Department of Player Safety for cross-checking an opponent in the face. Malkin took out his frustrations on Nashville Predators energy player Mark Borowiecki last weekend when he first slashed the stick out of his hand and then finished high to the nose and mouth area with a nasty cross-check.
Malkin was whistled for a double-minor penalty at the end of the second period of Sunday’s game between the Penguins and Predators, and some hockey cognoscenti were already ready to carve up the league’s decision-makers when it wasn’t clear whether a suspension was coming early on Monday morning.
Probably should have left that one in the holster for another 10 minutes there, Brooksy.
In the end, though, a phone hearing was announced with Malkin and the significant four-game suspension was doled out for a Pittsburgh team fighting to hold onto the third spot in the Metro Division right now. NHL’s Player Safety called the cross-check “retaliatory and aggressive” as a bloodied Borowiecki left the ice.
With eight games left in the regular season, Malkin's suspension will force him to sit half of Pittsburgh's remaining games.
"It's an emotional game out there,'' said coach Mike Sullivan to reporters after the game. "It's physical, and sometimes that stuff happens. It was a physical game, especially at the net fronts in those areas where that took place.
“Obviously, we don't want our best players in the penalty box, but these guys are competitive guys, and they push back. We'd prefer they be on the ice. They give us a better chance when they're on the ice, for sure. But one of the things we love about Geno is how competitive he is, and so when you get an emotional game like the game we had today, those things happen.”
All due respect to a great coach and hockey guy in Sullivan who is clearly sticking up for his star player here, but cross-checks to the mouth don’t just “happen” all the time. And so now Malkin is suspended for the second time in his career and serving a one-game suspension for high-sticking back in 2019, and perhaps the Russian center will heed this morning to stop using his stick as a weapon when tempers are flaring.
Clearly this isn’t Malkin’s first rodeo when it comes to wielding his stick dangerously, even if it’s his first significant suspension.
Then again perhaps not when you’re talking about a 35-year-old superstar center that’s probably not going to change much of what he’s doing out there despite a clear message being sent from the league to tone things down.
*It seems as if new Montreal Canadiens head coach Marty St. Louis is helping everybody as he tries to lift the overall level of play with the Habs. (Montreal Hockey Now)
*Things are getting tense in San Jose as Logan Couture lets Erik Karlsson have it on the bench when he just completely stopped playing at the end of a Sharks game in an empty net situation. For all the obvious skill that Karlsson, I’ve really never liked him as a player since watching him mail in a game in Boston while playing for the Ottawa Senators just before the Christmas break five or more years ago. Told me everything I needed to know about him as a competitor.
*The Boston Bruins power play is struggling in a big way without David Pastrnak and went 0-for-16 on the just-concluded road trip. (Boston Hockey Now)
*Even as they have struggled this season, it’s exciting times for the Seattle Kraken with Matty Beniers getting his feet wet at the NHL level at the end of this season. (Seattle Times)
*Roman Josi continues his march toward strong Norris Trophy contention with another excellent month for the Nashville Predators.
*It looks like there is some trouble ahead for the only professional hockey option for women in the United States as the PWHPA has opted to move forward without the PHF, that includes teams like the Boston Pride. (The Athletic)
*For something completely different: Consider me underwhelmed at what Christian Bale’s villain Gorr looks like in the new “Thor: Love and Thunder” movie. (Geekosity)
