Evgeni Malkin pays tribute to Alex Ovechkin after the loss of penguins: the 10 observations of Yohe
Chicago – Only 24 hours after a truly impressive victory against one of the best NHL teams in Dallas, the Pittsburgh’s Penguins have returned to Earth with a thud in Chicago.
It seemed fatigued and without any freshness in their game, the Penguins fell 3-1 at the Chicago Blackhawks in Chicago on Sunday evening.
The series of scores of 12 games of Sidney Crosby has finally ended in the game that officially eliminated the Penguins from the qualifications for the Stanley Cup playoffs. This marks the third consecutive season that the penguins have not been able to reach the post -station, their longer stretch since they lost the playoffs four consecutive seasons between 2002 and 2006.
The teams play each other on Tuesday at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh. Perhaps the penguins will show more life in that game, because on Sunday they didn’t have much in the tank against the Blackhawks.
“We weren’t even close to the team we were yesterday,” said coach Mike Sullivan. “It was one of those nights – we didn’t seem to have energy.”
Rickard Rakell marked the only goal of the Penguins, his 34th of the season, which corresponds to his maximum of his career.
We want another❗️ pic.twitter.com/t8bfk8ayvq
– Pittsburgh Penguins (@Penguins) April 7, 2025
Ilya Mikheyev scored twice for the Blackhawks and Frank Nazar started the score with a Shorthand effort.
Alex Nedeljkovic was acute in defeat, stopping 28 out of 30 shots.
Ten Post -Parita observations
• During the first TV timeout, the Blackhawks paid tribute to Alex Ovechkin, who He beat Wayne Gretzky’s NHL records At the beginning of the day, marking his 895th career goal in New York.
Most penguins and blackhawks touched their ice sticks while the crowd cheered. Evgeni Malkin’s response was interesting. While the rest of the players exploited their sticks while doing their typical business during TV timeouts, Malkin sitting on his own on the end tables, staring at the scoreboard while showing the replay of the historic goal of Ovechkin.
Malkin and Ovechkin have been friends since they were teenagers, having been enlisted in the same year and playing for the team of the team for years before being enrolled in 2004. There have been a few days rough in their friendship, in particular between 2007 and 2010 when they took a number of racing at Malkin during the games, which illustrated a tension in their friendship for a period.
Just like Sidney Crosby and Ovechkin have seen their relationship improve in recent years, Malkin and Ovechkin have clearly strengthened their friendship.
“It’s a huge day for hockey,” Malkin said. “I am happy to have played with him, against him. He is a great player. I hope he will remain healthy, maybe he will score 900 goals (this season), you know? His family will celebrate today. Probably the whole country of Russia, and the United States, were watching today. It is enormous. I played against him for 20 years. It is a car. He will never stop. Budgets. Good times. He found a way to score.”
Malkin was peeling for the result of Ovechkin.
“If I had played for 20 years and scored 40 goals every year, he wouldn’t have beaten the record,” Malkin said. “It’s incredible.”
Crosby and Malkin sent a message to Ovechkin after having tied the record on Friday to congratulate him. Malkin said he will call him once things settled.
“I probably won’t call him until a little later,” Malkin said. “He probably has 1,000 messages. I sent him a message before the game today, he said congratulations. It’s a fantastic day for Russian hockey. I’m glad Wayne Gretzky (he was there). A big day for hockey for all of us.”
Malkin shook his head when he was said that he and ovechkin were enrolled more than 20 years ago. He also took some time to launch a friendly boat in Ovechkin, whose diet is legend.
“He doesn’t believe it (more than 20 years have passed), I don’t believe it, that he beat the record,” Malkin said. “He never stopped. He is not a typical player. He doesn’t work every day. He doesn’t eat healthy. He loves hockey.”
• Crosby and Ovechkin, once was there, were not in more friendly terms. It is certainly difficult to be friends when they confront each other every day.
At some point, I think they realized that people will confront them and fight on one or the other long after they have passed since hockey. And along the way, they developed a mutual range.
Crosby contacted him after having tied the record against Chicago on Friday and still today.
“Send a little,” Crosby said. “So, of course, when I tied it I reached, and again today. It is a rather special moment. The game at the same time, think how long has the history of hockey is, how long has it been the game – and to play at a time when it gets such a record.”
• As for the game, I think it was a reminder that the NHL season is too long. The penguins had nothing. I would not say that they played a poor game, in themselves – they didn’t only have energy and, consequently, produced precious small offenses.
The game was a relative relative. Sullivan was not really discontent after the game, just as he probably felt helpless because the energy was generally not a problem at the second back-to-backs end during most of this season.
• This may have been the first game in which I saw signs of fatigue in Crosby from the 4 nations. It has been brilliant in the last two months but has not been the best in this game. It is human, it seems.
Returning to the match of the 4 nations championship against the US Team, Crosby has played 22 games in four different time zones in the last 46 days. He played huge minutes during that stretch and is probably not 100 %greeting. Also for Crosby, it is very, especially at 37 years old.
• Bad things happen a bit for the penguins when Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang are on the ice together.
At the first goal of Chicago, Karlsson made a bad reading, pinching when he shouldn’t. Litang doubled the general malice during the sequence: instead of removing the passage on a two against one-sai, as you should have a defender-attempted to simply choose the disc from the disc car.
It is doing it regularly lately. He ended up in the back of the network, since the Blackhawks were essentially granted an escape on the comedy.
Frank’s first Goal Shorthanding, NBD🤷 pic.twitter.com/g4f0JQRKRK
– Chicago Blackhawks (@nhlblackhawks) April 6, 2025
• Letang and Karlsson are great talents who have enjoyed wonderful careers. Currently, they are doing more damage than well for penguins.
If you both come back next season, I don’t see things improve.
• I continue to appreciate the game of Ville Koivunen a little. He is intelligent. He has an elegant way to him on the game of power. Law sounds very well. Clearly his hockey qi is high. The sky seems to be the limit for him.
• By the way, I also liked Rutger McGroarty’s game again. It’s a cliché to say it, but it does so well all the little things. The way it takes shots to play games, the decision -making process, the attention in the defensive area. Call it.
Chris Kunitz was in the building and stopped in the changing rooms to visit some of his old teammates after the game. I see a little Kunitz in McGroarty’s game.
• If you want penguins to take off things on the ground, be careful. Look where the Blackhawk are and how far they remain.
• It is difficult not to notice the placement of the draft at this point of the season. The Penguins would currently have the seventh choice (before the lottery made it official) in the draft NHL. Mathematically speaking, they could still easily end with the fourth record in the NHL. They may also end up with the 11th or 12th record. It is a rather dramatic swing in a draft that is not very deep.
(Photo of Sidney Crosby and Ilya Mikheyev: Talia Sprague / iMagn Images)
