PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Already without captain Sidney Crosby, the Pens spent nearly two periods without Evgeni Malkin in a 5-1 loss to the Sabres Thursday night.
Malkin was ejected after reacting to a cross-check from Buffalo’s Rasmus Dahlin. The Pens acting captain spun, swung his stick and hit Dahlin in the neck and side of the head.
Pens head coach Dan Muse said he wasn’t going to comment on it right after the game as he hasn’t had the chance to look back at the play.
Along with being kicked out of the game with a game misconduct penalty, and likely suspended for a few games, Buffalo scored on the ensuing five-minute major and then two more in the next 4:12 to take control of the game 4-1.
“He’s obviously a catalyst for our team,” said forward Bryan Rust of Malkin. “He drives a lot of play, creates a lot of offense. He’s an unbelievable player, so that was unfortunate.”
“One of the top players leaving, it’s not the best,” said goalie Arturs Silovs, who saved 21 of 25 shots. “It’s not easy to regroup, we tried to.”
The NHL Department of Player Safety will look at the hit, and if suspended, it will be the third time in his career. The 39-year-old was docked one-game in 2019 for roughing and another for a cross-check in 2022 that cost him four games.
“I haven’t seen it, so I don’t know what is going to happen,” said defenseman Erik Karlsson on Malkin potentially being suspended. “Hopefully he served his time and that’s it. He’s a big part of this team and is playing great hockey. He gives us a different dimension to our game.”
“Whatever happens, I think that we’ve shown throughout the year we are a pretty deep team. We are going to have to change some things up probably moving forward if we miss both of those guys (Malkin and Sidney Crosby). It’s nothing we haven’t done before.”
Up Next
Back-to-back home games this weekend, Saturday at 5:30 against the Flyers and Sunday at 4:30 versus Boston.