Penguins notes: Mood upbeat and light at practice
For the 21st time in the Sidney Crosby-Evgeni Malkin-Kris Letang era, the Pittsburgh Penguins are facing an elimination game Wednesday when they play Game 6 of their first-round series against the New York Islanders.
“In my experience with this team, we rally around adversity,” coach Mike Sullivan said after practice Tuesday. “It starts with the leadership we have with this team. … That’s one of the reasons I have so much faith and so much trust in this group of players.”
The Penguins are 9-11 since 2007 in elimination games, at one point winning during four consecutive such situations during their Stanley Cup runs of 2016 and ’17. But they have lost three consecutive eliminations games since then.
“Our players are well aware of the circumstances we’re in,” Sullivan said during a video conference call with media. “We’ve been in them in the past and found ways to have success. … We’ve just got to put our best game on the ice in New York (Wednesday), and that’s what our intent is. We had a film session (Tuesday) morning. We tried to learn from last night’s experience, and now we look to the next game and try to find a way to have success.”
Tuesday’s practice was just the Penguins’ third since the postseason began. They’d called off scheduled workouts after Games 2 and 4. The session lasted about a half hour.
The mood was light.
“We don’t really have any choice but to move past (Monday’s Game 5 loss) and get ready for the next one,” defenseman Mike Matheson said. “It serves us no use to come in and feel sorry for ourselves or anything like that. The only thing that we can do is learn from last game.
“I think we played a really good game and deserved better out of it, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. We can’t sit around and … just pack it in. We have to realize that at the end of the day, no matter what order it comes in, it’s the first team to win four games and we still have an opportunity to do that.”
MALKAMANIA IN THE CITY OF PITTSBURGH!
With that goal, @emalkin71geno ties Mario Lemieux for second place on the team’s all-time playoff points list with 172. pic.twitter.com/GhsNWcouTX
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) May 24, 2021
Like the old Geno
Four days after setting a career-low in ice time for a game in which he started and finished, Evgeni Malkin led all Penguins forwards in ice time Monday (24 minutes, 32 seconds). He had his first postseason goal since 2019, and the Penguins had a better ratio of shots on goal in relation to the Islanders (80.9%) when Malkin was on the ice than any other player in Game 5.
Monday was Malkin’s third game of the playoffs and just his seventh game overall since March 16 because of a suspected right knee injury.
“I thought it was Geno’s best game so far (since his return),” Sullivan said. “I think he’s getting better with every game that he plays. … He had the puck an awful lot, and usually that’s a good indicator of where his game is. When he’s at his best, the puck follows him along and that’s what I saw (Monday) night.”
Chris Adamski is a TribLive reporter who has covered primarily the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2014 following two seasons on the Penn State football beat. A Western Pennsylvania native, he joined the Trib in 2012 after spending a decade covering Pittsburgh sports for other outlets. He can be reached at cadamski@triblive.com.
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