Penguins Roundup - May 26

Justin Maffei | National Hockey League

May 26, 10:23 AM | Hype this story!

Malkin uncomfortable and tired
Evgeni Malkin has been struggling lately. According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Malkin is tired and unhappy with his position on the powerplay.

“I’m just tired,” said Malkin. “Practice is long. The season is long. I feel bad.” The same thing happened last year toward the end of the season. Apparently, being tired is not the only thing affecting Malkin’s game. He is uncomfortable with him left point position on the powerplay and it seems to be causing his entire game to suffer.

“I feel bad there,” Malkin said. “It’s not good – playing defense. It’s not good for me everywhere else.” He also admitted that Detroit’s proficiency at creating shorthanded opportunities had him “worried.”

Roberts in, Laraque out
Gary Roberts was a healthy scratch for Game One, but it was not because Coach Michel Therrien did not want him in. Therrien was rewarding his other players for their good play throughout the playoffs thus far. However, after a lackluster game, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports Gary Roberts will return to the lineup, replacing Georges Laraque.

“(Today) he’ll be back in the lineup, but obviously when you take somebody who is not playing and bring him into the lineup, someone has to come out. We evaluated our options and we decided it was going to be Georges.”

Dupuis Demoted
The lineup for tonight’s game will reportedly look as follows:

Malone – Crosby – Hossa
Tablot – Malkin – Sykora
Dupuis – Staal – Kennedy
Roberts – Hall – Ruutu

The defensive pairing will likely remain the same:

Orpik – Gonchar
Gill – Scuderi
Letang – Whitney

When the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review asked Dupuis if he was upset about his demotion from the first line to the third line, he replied in true team player fashion. Dupuis said, “Not at all. I’m all about winning.”

Comments

  1. Michael

    May 26, 01:41 PM

    Malkin is smart enough, and intuitive enough .. to KNOW that he is being used__improperly__by Yeo and Therrien on the powerplay. And so he finally expressed his realization (and his disgust) when given the chance in the media. He is merely telling the truth.

    Malkin himself__knows__that he should not be relegated to left-point on the powerplay. He knows it isn’t good for the team! He wants to win the Cup as much as anyone on that team.

    If he didn’t say anything to the media, nothing would have changed .. he would have continued to be frustrated and disgusted, and nothing would have been resolved. But at least by saying something to the media, he gets a little of this off his chest, which can maybe provide him some relief .. which in-turn might help him to perk-up and play better for the remainder of these Finals.

    The problem here is Therrien and Yeo .. not Malkin.

    Here is a quote from “Kirk” .. from another messageboard .. which I think expresses this situation quite well:

    “Maybe I’m just nuts about this, but I think that Malkin is a guy who feeds off being into the flow of the game. He needs to be skating. Look at what he did with Sid out. He was playing 23-24 minutes on most nights and getting better as the game went on. His shifts were consistent. They were good, quality minutes. He was skating on the PP, and things were flowing through what made him comfortable. That’s just how he is. Other players are like that (see how Babcock uses Datsyuk 23 minutes a game as an example . . . it’s exactly like MT used Geno when Sid was out). Now, the question becomes “Why can’t you do what you were doing when I was using you properly, even though I’m using you differently now?” It’s not exactly a reasonable question, and I’m afraid that Malkin’s comments reflect his recognition and growing disgust with it.”

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