Evgeni Malkin is totally awesome! Well, duh. The 21 year-old Russian Penguin superstar took apart the Flyers today scoring twice and setting up a couple of other goals in a 7-1 home blowout seen on NBC.

We’ll bet network execs just loved watching Malkin and Co. destroy Philly and probably whatever ratings they were hoping for.

Aside from that though, this was a brutal loss for the Flyers as they’re just one point now separates them from the ninth seeded Sabres. It also came on the heels of a very costly OT defeat to seventh place Boston yesterday in which the Bruins tied the game up on Andrew Ference’s blast with 26.4 to go and Tim Thomas pulled. The B’s took the game on Aaron Ward’s winner.

Philly looked like they were getting their act together a week prior but now suddenly are winless in three (0-1-2) including that third period collapse in a stunning 4-3 OT defeat at Toronto. Their next three crucial games all are at home starting Tuesday against Ilya Kovalchuk and the Thrashers with visits from the division rival Rangers and Islanders.

The Flyers and Rangers will meet twice in five days starting this upcoming Friday in what very well could decide which team makes the playoff cut.

Malkin’s four point day included No’s 40 and 41 in the goal department along with his 55th and 56th helpers on a couple of goals off the hot stick of former Devil Petr Sykora. His 25 markers and 58 points are the most since 2002-03 when he got 34 goals and 59 points with the Stanley Cup runner-up Ducks.

Guess that’s what playing alongside an unbelievable player can do for your career. On the season, Malkin now has 97 points (41-56-97) trailing only Russian comrade Alexander Ovechkin (57-42-99) for the NHL scoring lead.  

You can pretty much bet that one of the Russians will become the first Hart winner from their country since then Detroit Red Wing Sergei Fedorov took home plenty of hardware including a Selke and Pearson back in 1993-94. It was one of the great seasons as he totaled 56 goals, 64 assists, 120 points along with a gaudy plus-48 rating.

Sometimes, we forget just how special Fedorov was. What a great player. He might not have the scoring touch anymore but the likeable 38 year-old veteran pivot’s defensive awareness is still there as he tries to get Ovechkin and the Caps back in the postseason. Wouldn’t it be nice to see No.91 back playing some meaningful hockey this Spring?

The win for the Pens was an important one as they cut the conference/Atlantic-leading Devils’ lead to just one point. It looks like a two horse race for the division with the Rangers apparently getting a head start on St. Patty’s Day in Southern Florida this weekend.

The Habs are also a point back thanks to their 3-0 home shutout of the Islanders last night in which little used backup Jaroslav Halak stopped all 30 shots. Maybe the Isles heard me because former top pick Kyle Okposo will make his NHL debut this Tuesday at Nassau Coliseum against Toronto. About time!

The fifth place Sens are in action now visiting Southeast leader Carolina. A win would also give them 89 points as well- one fewer than the Devs.

Talk about a wild race at the top. It will only get more interesting down the stretch.

With the playoff race coming down to the critical stretch, there’s plenty of action today. What else would ya expect on the final Saturday before the NHL version of a holiday known to puck fans as Deadline Day. It’s now less than 48 hours away!

We will provide extensive coverage of all the deals which go down.

There have already been a couple of games of note which affect both the Atlantic and Eastern races. Earlier today, the Devils finally got a win over the Islanders defeating them 4-2 at The Prudential Center to temporarily take over the conference lead with 77 points.

A shorthanded tally by John Madden and a Patrik Elias goal had them out in front 2-1 but the Isles got a tying goal from Ruslan Fedotenko. Faced with the prospect of once again falling short against a division rival from the metro area, the more rested Devs peppered Rick DiPietro in the third outshooting the Fishsticks 20-4.

Not surprisingly, they finally had the magic formula as money player Zach Parise notched the winner 2:30 in for his Devil-leading 25th (fifth in last five contests). Brian Gionta made certain that there was no Isles’ comeback by getting to a rebound in front for his third in the last six 2:13 later.

Marty Brodeur didn’t have a busy day but was his stellar self turning aside 19 of 21 shots to win his league-leading 34th.

The win had the Devs leading the conference. However, with the Pens hosting the Sens, something had to give and did.

In another unpredictable game which was plenty exciting, the defending Eastern Conference champs showed plenty of resolve coming back from three goals down to pull out a 4-3 overtime road victory over Evgeni Malkin and the Pens.

The Penguins jumped out in front by three thanks to goals from Petr Sykora, Colby Armstrong and Jeff Taffe. But the Sens fought back thanks to a goal from recent pickup Cory Stillman and two from Dany Heatley including the tying marker with 13:51 remaining. HIs 30th came on a nice Randy Robitaille setup in front easily beating Ty Conklin.

The game would wind up in overtime and the Pens would come close to ending it twice. On the first one, Ryan Malone thought he had it won but hit the crossbar. The other was when Malkin came in on a two-on-one and Ray Emery just got a piece of it to push it wide.

The Sens instead would pick up a huge win off a broken play very late. Off a broken play, Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson backhanded his team best 35th through Conklin with only three seconds left to give them a huge win.

It gave Ottawa one more point than the Devils allowing them to stay tops in the conference for the 144th consecutive day according to Hockey Night In Canada (HNIC).

The Pens meanwhile got a point but not the kind they had in mind. They trail the Devils by a point with each team having 20 games to go in the regular season.

For the first time this month, Malkin was held off the scoresheet. He entered leading the league with 82 points (35-47-82) and had points in the first 10 games including a ridiculous eight multi-point nights. It wasn’t from lack of effort as maybe the front runner for the Hart Trophy generated plenty of chances. He just couldn’t finish.

With the Eastern race extremely close, please note the new Eastern Conference standings at the top left corner of the page. We will be keeping track of everything down the final six weeks.

Be sure to tune in!

Since I’m not able to go to tonight’s Thrashing of the Rangers (yeah that’s what I said), I figured what better time than now to give you the hockey fan some of my total randomness. In no particular order:

1.When is the NHL going to stop allowing their star players to walk all over them? No. We’re not talking about Gary Bettman’s new CBA with a rising cap where teams are panicking and signing their own players to ridiculously long contracts. What I am referring to is the latest news about the upcoming All-Star Game in Atlanta.

Why should a star player such as Martin Brodeur be allowed to miss a game which is for the fans? You think he’s going to miss any upcoming starts between tonight in Philadelphia when he does what he usually does to them and Sunday?!?!?!?!?! It is an absolute joke that the league doesn’t step in and do the right thing by the fans who want to see the league’s marquee stars lace’em up in a fun-filled skills competition.

Unless you’re out with an excuse (injury, family crisis, health issue), it should be your obligation to take part in the All-Star Game. Especially if your own fans voted you in as a starter. Brodeur is still the best netminder in the conference and plenty of people want to see him. Even now as the three-time Vezina and Cup winner gets older, the Montreal native is still one of the NHL’s biggest stars. Someone who is marketable and treats fans and writers alike with nothing but class. No.30 should be in net for that first period in Atlanta. No if’s, and’s or buts.

That also means you Roberto Luongo! The fans deserve to see the Vancouver netminder at the opposite end of the rink against Marty. The fact that the two league’s top goalies were elected and won’t participate for unknown reasons looks bad. They’re what this game should be about.

This goes for any player who is elected. Unfortunately, the league already lost their most identifiable star in Sidney Crosby due to a high ankle sprain which appears will keep the 2006-07 Hart winner out at least six weeks. And losing one of the bright young stars out West in Paul Stastny due to injury doesn’t help much. Neither does one of the game’s best players in Henrik Zetterberg for no other apparent reason than wanting to rest due to recurring back spasms.

If the league wants to be taken seriously, put out the best players for this game and make it a priority. The encouraging news is at least Evgeni Malkin replaced Crosby and Tim Thomas is now in place of Brodeur. The surprising Boston No.1 goalie certainly was worthy of making it.

On the other side, Corey Perry and Mike Ribeiro will get to take part. They certainly both belong. Scott Niedermayer was also tabbed probably as a league selection due to his veteran status. He certainly hasn’t disappointed since returning to the defending champion Ducks posting 11 points in 17 games and helping lead his team to the top of the Pacific.

2.Hell or high water, Tom Renney has to go. His message clearly isn’t getting through anymore to the underachieving Blueshirts. There’s little effort. No discipline. And zero accountability. The affable coach is good at analyzing the team’s problems. The problem is he never punishes his best players and that’s not a good recipe for success. This team is severely lacking and has become softer than a box of Twinkies.

If the Ranger organization wants to save their season, they must bring in a tough cop. Pat Burns would be perfect. So too would John Tortorella if he ever gets fired down in Tampa. It’s more likely that Jim Schoenfeld takes over if the Rangers don’t get a win tonight or on Brian Leetch night against Atlanta.

3.Speaking of which, how is it possible that the Rangers host the Thrashers twice in a row??? What are the schedule makers doing? If it were a traditional home-and-home like the games against the Bruins, that would make more sense. Give both fanbases a chance to see a rivalry formulate.

4.Rookie Nicklas Backstrom continues to play extremely well on the resurgent Caps who now are over .500 and just three points behind first place Carolina and the eighth seeded Islanders. The former 2006 Caps’ fourth overall selection became the first rookie in league history to record back-to-back four assist games. He assisted on four Washington goals in a come from behind 6-5 shootout win over Pittsburgh last night. With nine goals and a team-leading 31 helpers, his 40 points place him second to only Chicago rookie forward Patrick Kane, who has 45 points (12-33-45).

Backstrom’s strong play along with NHL-leading goalscorer Alexander Ovechkin (38 goals), the reemergence of Alexander Semin (5 goals in last four contests) and Mike Green (14-16-30; 14 pts in last 10 GP) have Bruce Boudreau’s Caps thinking playoffs.

5.Now that John Ferguson, Jr.’s finally been giving his walking papers in Toronto, when does the Original Six franchise realize their problems are a lot more than just one executive???

6.Can anyone think of any good reason how Mats Sundin was passed over for the East?

7.If he gets the Bruins in the playoffs despite no Patrice Bergeron and other regulars out, does former Devil coach Claude Julien win the Jack Adams?

8.Tomas Vokoun’s a good goalie but he’s not better than Florida captain Olli Jokinen.

9.Remember when Bill Guerin was a bad move for the Islanders? How’s that turning out?

10.Speaking of which, Dainius Zubrus: 47 games, seven goals. He’s still got another five years left on his deal in New Jersey. Somehow, the Devils are still winning games. Brodeur and first-year coach Brent Sutter are the biggest reasons why.

The game of hockey isn’t always about statistics. Sometimes, it’s about great players elevating their games to lead their team to victory.

Precisely the type of quality game Pens’ star forward Evgeni Malkin had in their 2-0 road shutout of the Canadiens on Hockey Night In Canada (HNIC). Without top star Sidney Crosby (ankle sprain), the 21 year-old Russian who won the Calder last season dominated the action in all facets. He might not have lit up the scoreboard in his team’s bounceback victory to pull in front of the idle Devils for the Atlantic Division lead but the former 2004 first overall selection controlled the play in all three zones.

He also had a couple of tremendous plays which started in his own end and almost led to goals if not for some splendid goaltending by Montreal’s Cristobal Huet. The first such play took place in the opening stanza when Malkin took a puck and then worked a give-and-go with Petr Sykora before going around Andrei Markov and flipping a backhand saucer pass to a cutting Sergei Gonchar. But a sprawling Huet thwarted the chance.

Even though the Pens didn’t score on the play, the breathtaking end-to-end rush was replayed a few times on the HNIC feed as the broadcasters gushed.

On another shift, Malkin threaded the needle from his own blueline to string Sykora for a breakaway. Only two unreal Huet stops kept the puck out.

This was the kind of plays you’d expect from a player as physically gifted as the 21 year-old Malkin. However, it was his defensive prowess which helped seal the victory for his team.

With the desperate Habs pulling Huet for an extra attacker and under 60 ticks left, Malkin made two great defensive reads. First, he broke up a pass at center ice to interrupt a Montreal rush. The second play, he outraced a Canadien to a Sykora pass gliding by before flipping a backhand into a vacated net with 12.4 seconds remaining.

On a night when backup goalie Dany Sabourin was splendid in swatting aside all 31 Montreal shots for a shutout giving Ty Conklin the night off, it was Malkin who was his team’s best player. Or as the ‘casters noted, “Best player on the ice all game.”

A night before when his linemate went down, he promised to step up. Malkin shifted back to his natural position of center logging big minutes (22:57 TOI) and didn’t miss a beat. This was a statement game by a very talented player.

One who will continue to assume the leadership role with Sid The Kid out.

If this looks like some sort of complex mathematics formula, then yeah. Chances are it probably is.

Translation: Malkin scores three goals while Jagr scores only one. Ty Conklin makes clutch stops setting a new career high with 43 saves while Henrik Lundqvist allows cruddy rebounds like Malkin’s winner which “Franchise goalies” aren’t supposed to give up.

Not that we’re pinning this all on King Henrik who’s Dad is still sick which can’t be helping his concentration. His team failed to show for the first 20 and paid the price because when you face a hot goalie who’s as unconscious as Conklin is now, you’re not coming back from three down. Especially against him, Sid the Kid, Malkin and that team which looked a heck of a lot more organized than the Booshirts did.

Who cares if Jagr scored his fourth power play goal to break up the shutout midway through the third? Did anyone actually believe they’d get anything else by Conklin AKA the new Dominator (well at least for now anyway).

Think about that. Jagr has FOUR POWER PLAY GOALS. FOOOOOOOOUR! FOREEEEEEEEE!!!!!

The last word of course intentional because the way he’s not produced on the PP, they’ll be warming up the golf clubs at least two months earlier than anyone at 2 Penn Plaza expected.

I’ve lost faith. This team just doesn’t inspire much now.

37 games remaining. Will they wake up before it’s too late?!?!?!?!?!

Let them prove me wrong. Does anybody think this team even if they make it will do anything substantial this Spring? Not as long as No.68 is wearing the ‘C.’

I take back the Cup prediction. I must’ve been on something.

P.S. How is Malkin not on the All-Star team? This business of representing every team is a joke. We’re talking about a meaningless exhibition. That means the fans in Atlanta should get to see all the game’s brightest and best stars. Malkin is one of the best young players in the league and he won’t be there because the league has to make every team feel good. Bull shit.

I’m done.

2:19 PM: They’re through 20 minutes at the revamped Ralph Wilson Stadium for the second NHL Hockey Heritage Outdoor Classic between the host Sabres and Penguins.

The Pens are out in front on a Colby Armstrong tally on the game’s opening shift setup from who else but the game’s best player Sidney Crosby just 21 seconds in.

It looks like the lake effect snow is all but done as kids get their chance to play pond hockey between stanzas. How cool is that? Probably something they won’t ever forget.

The atmosphere is terrific with over 73,000 on hand to enjoy the festivities.

The biggest problem is that with snow comes delays. There were at least four different instances where they had to stop the game to repair chunks of ice. So maybe the first classic game in Edmonton five years ago against Montreal was better because it didn’t drag.

Still, it’s fun to watch as they prepare for period No.2.

SOG: Pit-11 Buf-9

Neither power play connected in four opportunities.

2:27 PM: The Sabres come out strong as Tim Connolly is denied by Ty Conklin. The center then comes back and sets up Brian Campbell’s one-timer which beats their former backup to tie the score.

So two goals in this one both very early in each stanza.

2:31 PM: The action now is end to end which is very fun to watch. The Sabres were coming on at the end of the first and now are starting to dictate the play as Conklin stops another shot from 40 feet out.

2:33 PM: The Sabres nearly connect on an odd-man rush but the puck is centered past a trailer. Brooks Orpik nails a Sabre from behind into the boards. Man. That had to sting. It could’ve been a boarding call IMO.

Conklin fights off another Campbell try. The Buffalo offensive blueliner is flying out there now and creating lots of chances for his teammates.

They go to the first break and it’s a bit of role reversal so far.

SOG: Pit-0 Buf-6

2:37 PM: Campbell again jumps into a rush and Connolly nearly sets him up. It seems like the ice is better now. Not as many turnovers. Maybe the players are adjusting. Also, the intermission gave them a chance to prepare it more.

Campbell hits Malone. This is a much better period to watch. Lots happening.

10:00 remaining


2:40 PM: The period is flying by unlike the first which saw many stoppages including a few delays. There haven’t been any penalties either which certainly has helped for any diehard puck fan to enjoy the action.


It’s been well played.


Still tied at one apiece as they hit a break with under 10:00 left.

2:43 PM: As they return with the zamboni out at the halfway point, Darren Pang is talking to Pittsburgh coach Michel Therrien who wants his team to be physical. They certainly need to compete better because it’s been all Buffalo this stanza.

SOG: Pit-0 Buf-11

9:10 remaining


Only the netminding of Conklin has kept it tied as they showed a nice feature of Ryan Miller who took part in one of these when he led his college Michigan State to a 3-3 tie against rival Michigan back in 2001 with over 75,000 on hand at Spartan Stadium.

2:48 PM: Play continues and after a near connection from Buffalo, the Pens apply their first pressure of the period with Crosby and Evgeni Malkin teamed up. But still they aren’t able to get through a stingy Sabre D who hasn’t permitted a shot in the first 12:46 of the second as they touch up for icing.


2:50 PM: Thomas Vanek comes out off a faceoff but has a shot blocked. Then Conklin watches a Vanek one-timer from the high slot go off the crossbar.


6:35 remaining

2:52 PM: Now Connolly works a give and go with Ales Kotalik as his shot whistles wide. Still no shots for the Pens.

Fans aren’t pleased that there was no interference call on the Pens. It appears the refs have decided to let them play as opposed to the four minors called in period No.1. Vanek made a nice move pulling up but defenseman Toni Lydman’s shot was wide.

The Pens finally get a great opportunity but Sergei Gonchar’s shot in the slot misses.

3:35 to go

Chances are 13-10 Buffalo despite no SOG for the Pens this period which tells you how well they came out. But really, the Sabres should be ahead by now. Only a couple of posts and Conklin has kept this thing tied.

2:10 left in a period which is flying by

Another Pen shot sails high and wide. Can they get a shot before this period ends? They’re finally starting to get some attack time.

80 seconds remaining

With under 40 ticks left, the Pens generate a cycle but the Sabres intercept the puck and clear the zone. It appears they’re going to finish the period without a shot as another try narrowly misses.

Time winds down as the buzzer sounds with the game still knotted at one.

Believe it or not, they gave the Pens credit for two shots. One by rookie Tyler Kennedy and the other by I couldn’t figure out. It looked like neither even touched Miller. They were very generous. Might have something to do with the New Year.

Second Period scoring: 1:25 Brian Campbell 4 (Tim Connolly, Daniel Paille)

SOG: Pit-2 Buf-14

No penalties

SOG thru 2: Pit-13 Buf-23

Power Plays: Pit-0-for-3 Buf-0-for-1

We’ll be continuing coverage over at my HB blog. I’ll have a wrap up later on this fun filled day.