Malkin’s Hat Trick Lead Penguins To Win Over Atlanta
Added on Nov 14, 2010 by J Merrill in
Evgeni Malkin put together his sixth career hat trick to give the Pengins the win against the Atlanta Thrashers Saturday night. One might think that the hat trick was the most important part of the game for Malkin, but he seemed to be more happy about posting up on the power play. “This was my first power-play (goal) of the season, and I hope it’s not my last. I think we moved the puck well tonight.” Malkin continued “We played great tonight, Fleury, penalty killing, the power play and I scored a few goals.” Malkin, and Sidney Crosby, seem to play really well against the Thrasher. Malkin has 27 points, including nine goals, in 17 games, and Crosby has 28 points, including eight goals, in 19 games against the Thrashers.
Crosby scored his 12th goal of the season, and added to his scoring streak. He has six goals and six assists over the last five games increased his season points total to 27. Crosby said “It was a big boost, Obviously, (Malkin) had some great chances these last few games. Usually, it’s just a matter of getting one or two and they all seem to come.”
Crosby continued to talk about the team effort from the Penguins. He said “All the way around, across the board I think it’s fair to say, It’s a 1-1 game and we had some big penalty kills. Marc Andre Fleury made some big saves. We got a power-play goal in the third. If we keep putting games together like this, we should keep gaining confidence and getting better.”
Fleury won his second consecutive start, improving to 3-6-0 after stopping 34 shots. Penguins Coach Dan Byslma said, “The Thrashers had a couple of great chances, and coming back after last night’s game, you could sense you were going to get a great game from Marc.” He also said “Special teams was big tonight. Our PK came up real big and we had the power-play goal. On back-to-back nights, traveling and on the road, that was a big effort from our team.”
Thrashers coach Craig Ramsay talked about how strong the Penguins are as a team “They’re not both just talented but they’re strong, Malkin is a monster, and Crosby is as strong on the puck as there is.” Thrashers goalie Ondrej Pavelec, who dropped to 0-5 against the Penguins and stopped 24 of 27 shots, was quick to agree. He said “Those guys don’t need many chances to score goals. They may be the best players in the NHL. It’s tough to play them for 60 minutes, but if we want to make the playoffs, we need to shut down those guys.”
The Penguins will face the New York Rangers at home on Monday night, and the Thrashers will face the Washington Capitals on Sunday night.
No Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.