Saturday against the Edmonton Oilers, Pittsburgh Penguins superstar forward Evgeni Malkin stole the show, scoring a goal of the year candidate on goaltender Anders Nilsson after exposing two Oilers defenders.
Must See: Evgeni Malkin Scores Spin-O-Rama Goal
The play started with pressure from the 29-year-old Russian behind the Oilers net, before stealing the puck off young Oilers defenceman Oscar Klefbom in the neutral zone. Malkin proceeded to walk into the offensive zone, and pull a spin-o-rama move on former Devils defender Mark Fayne, and finally roof a backhand up over the shoulder of Nilsson. The goal cut the score to 2-1 in favor of the Oilers, en route to an eventual 3-2 Penguins defeat.
The goal, Malkin’s first of two on the night, was his 10th of the year, and contributed towards his 9th place tie in the league’s goal-scoring race. Also of note is that Malkin had a total of 11 shots on the night, played 21:19 of ice-time, and was named the second star of the game (with Jordan Eberle and Taylor Hall of the Oilers being named first and third star, respectively). Overall, Malkin boasts 22 points in 23 games, first among all Penguins by a margin of seven points (Sidney Crosby ranks 2nd with 15).
With the loss, the Penguins fall to 13-8-2 on the season (28 points) and currently rank 3rd in the Metropolitan Division, 5th in the Eastern Conference, and 10th in the National Hockey League. Surprisingly, they also rank 27th in goals for, with just 52. The Oilers meanwhile, improve to 8-14-2 (18 points), putting them at 8th in the Pacific Division, 14th in the Western Conference, and 30th in the NHL.
Next up for the Penguins is the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday, followed by a weekend with games against the Los Angeles Kings (Saturday) and the struggling Anaheim Ducks (Sunday).
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