The Pittsburgh Penguins might be facing a serious double blow to their lineup. Already missing captain Sidney Crosby, they could now lose star center Evgeni Malkin to suspension after an ugly incident Thursday night.
Malkin got tossed from the game early in the second period of the Pens’ 5-1 loss to Buffalo for taking a swing at Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin’s head with his stick.
It wasn’t a good look.
The incident happened after Dahlin cross-checked Malkin near the Buffalo net. Instead of skating away, Malkin retaliated with a deliberate stick swing that caught Dahlin up high.
This isn’t Malkin’s first run-in with the league’s disciplinary office. He sat out a game back in 2019 for a similar stick-swinging incident.
Now everyone’s waiting to see what the NHL’s Department of Player Safety will do. But if you’ve watched hockey lately, you know predicting their decisions is like trying to guess tomorrow’s weather – good luck with that.
The timing couldn’t be worse for Pittsburgh.
They’re already without Crosby, who’s still recovering from a lower-body injury he picked up at the Olympics. There’s no clear timeline for his return.
The Pens have two games this weekend, so they’ll likely hear about any suspension by Friday. They’re still in decent shape for a playoff spot, but their remaining schedule is brutal – one of the toughest in the NHL.
“You just can’t do that,” one team source said about Malkin’s stick swing. “Especially not when we’re already short-handed.”
What makes this even more interesting is that Malkin’s been trying to get a new contract with Pittsburgh. The team’s been holding off, preferring to wait until after the season. You’ve got to wonder if this incident will affect those talks.
The Penguins have actually been playing pretty well this year, surprising a lot of people with their depth. But losing both Crosby and Malkin? That’s the kind of thing that can derail even the best teams.
Whether it was frustration over his contract situation or just heat-of-the-moment stuff, Malkin’s actions could end up hurting his team at the worst possible time.
