PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Pens head coach Dan Muse was pretty matter of fact on his first comments after Evgeni Malkin was suspended five games for a slashing game misconduct on Thursday.
“The league makes decisions, these things are out of our control,” Muse said before the Flyers game on Saturday. “We know where it’s at right now in terms of games and now it’s an opportunity for other guys, like we’ve been doing all year, to take those minutes and take those situations that Geno was in.”
The first player to benefit is the call-up announced on Friday, forward, and AHL Player of the Month Ville Koivunen. The 22-year-old forward was the top scorer in the entire league in February with 16 points (six goals) in 11 games that included four different multi-point games. Koivunen came to the Pens two years ago from Carolina in the Jake Guentzel trade.
“It’s not easy for a young player to be going up and down,” Muse said of Koivunen. “You don’t always see guys respond the right way, he responded by going down and continuing to elevate his game. Not putting his head down and feeling sorry for himself, he did the exact opposite.”
Muse said he’s seen improvement in play-making, getting into the inside and putting himself in good scoring areas. He’s also improved his overall all-around game.
The NHL Department of Player Safety said one of the reasons for the five games was his history of stick violations. Muse said it’s just a situation you have to deal with but doesn’t think it will impact his future.
“Geno has been having a great year for us. My full expectation is when he does come back, he’s going to help this team continue to win games. There is no doubt in my mind on that.”
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“It’s an emotional game.”
And it’s usually those emotions that gets Malkin in trouble.