Penguins All-Star Game Notes

The Penguins have been one of the more popular teams in All-Star game circles the last few decades, mainly due to their consistent star power. From Mario Lemieux to Jaromir Jagr to Sidney Crosby, many Penguin players have commanded league attention at the league's annual game of offensive shinny. Who can forget Lemieux's 4-goal game when the All-Star game was in Pittsburgh in 1990?

With Penguins center Sidney Crosby having to sit out his 2nd straight All-Star game with an injury after garnering the most votes ever in the history of the league, his counterpart, Evgeni Malkin, was the Penguin forward making headlines in and around this season's contest.

Malkin was fairly quiet most of his first 2 years in the league, mainly due to the language barrier. However, as he has learned to speak better english, he has gotten more comfortable, and he was in true form throughout NHL All-Star weekend in Montreal.

Things began on Saturday when Malkin won the NHL's accuracy shooting competition after first hitting 4-out-of-4 in the opening round to finish in a tie with Ottawa Senators' winger Dany Heatley, then besting him in the tiebreaker by hitting 3-out-of-4.

Then, what had been mending behind the scenes for weeks and which seemingly culminated during the weekend was Malkin and Washington Capitals superstar Alexander Ovechkin ending their ongoing feud. They spent some time together outside of the scheduled festivities, apparently at the urging of Atlanta Thrashers LW and fellow russian Ilya Kovalcuk, and appeared together before the media.

Later, Saturday night during the NHL's breakaway contest, Malkin and Ovechkin put on a show for the crowd. When it came time for Ovechkin's attempt, he went over to Malkin near the bench. Malkin put a hat and sunglasses on him, then gave Ovechkin a shot of gatorade. Ovechkin took off towards center ice to begin his breakaway, only to quickly turn around and have Malkin hand him Malkin's stick. Ovechkin then skated in and stickhandled with both sticks. As he got to the slot, he tossed his own stick aside and then scored with Malkin's.

Ovechkin won the contest by a near 50% fan vote.

It's good to see the two of them apparently bury the hatchet. For as interesting as their physical play against each other has been during the last season, and even though Ovechkin seems to lose sight of his game when he's preoccupied with hitting Geno, it's not something the league wants, nor is it something a Penguin fan wants. I'd rather worry about Ovechkin's offensive talents than run the risk that Malkin might get hurt.

The weekend culminated Sunday when Malkin scored a beautiful goal in the East's 12-11 shootout win over the West in the All-Star game. Malkin picked up a loose puck deep in the West end after a turnover, took the puck to the front of the net, then stuck his stick between his legs before shooting the puck passed a stunned Nicklas Backstrom, who was in goal for the West in the 2nd period. Simply outstanding stuff! You can see the goal here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiAPtJJz2sM

Truly a great All-Star weekend for Evgeni Malkin -- and Pittsburgh Penguin fans.

The Penguins will return to the ice against the New York Rangers at home on Wednesday night. They expect to have both Max Talbot and Pascal Dupuis back in the lineup for the game, but likely will recall a player or two back up from Wilkes Barre as well.

There is no word on whether Crosby may play. He plans to test his knee early in the week in practice to see how he feels.

Also, there are no updates on Sergei Gonchar. He continues to practice with the team, but also continues to wear a red sweater, as he has not been cleared to give or receive contact. That clearance may come within 7-10 days. At this point, it appears the Penguins should get him back sometime in mid-to-late February.

Let's hope the Penguins at least remain in the playoff chase at that point. Currently, they sit just outside the top-8 in the Eastern Conference with 34 games to go. They need to go on a run down the stretch.

Let's go Pens.