The Pittsburgh Penguins have a three-games-to-two lead in their first-round Stanley Cup Playoffs Series with the Philadelphia Flyers. They have an opportunity to eliminate the Flyers today in Game 6 at the Wells Fargo Arena. However, they will have to do so without one of their best players. Evgeni Malkin is set to miss the game with a lower-body injury.

Official lineup sheet is out. Hornqvist and Rowney are in. Malkin and Simon are out.

— Jonathan Bombulie (@BombulieTrib) April 22, 2018

Evgeni Malkin out for Game 6 Against The Philadelphia Flyers

Malkin appeared to hurt his leg in the first period of Game 5. He got tangled up with Flyers centre Jori Lehtera and went down awkwardly. It appeared that Lehter fell on his leg. Malkin continued in the game but was not as effective as he normally is.

Malkin hurt after Lehtera falls on his leg pic.twitter.com/ZRZMVD3fNX

— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) April 20, 2018

Malkin has three goals and two assists for five points through the first five games of the series. He is coming off one of the best seasons of his career. Malkin had 42 goals and 56 assists for 98 points in 78 games this season. He also added 87 penalty minutes. Malkin’s possession numbers are strong, with a 53.2 percent Corsi, and +1.4 relative Corsi.

The Penguins did get some good news as Patric Hornqvist returns to the lineup. He had three points in the first three games of the series, but missed the last two due to injury.

The changes have had a domino effect into other lineup changes for the Penguins. Rookie forward Dominik Simon, who took Hornqvist’s place at wing, is now a healthy scratch for Game 6. Carter Rowney draws back into the lineup. Expect to see Derick Brassard and Riley Sheahan also to move up the Penguins lineup and see more icetime.

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