The Penguins just had their morning skate in Anaheim and would you look at that. An old friend looks ready to go again. Racist uncles everywhere in the 412 sharpen your pitchforks. Evgeni Malkin is back.

Geno Malkin will play tonight.

— Josh Yohe (@JoshYohe_PGH) January 11, 2022

Tremendous news. Personally, I think Evgeni Malkin is the most interesting Penguin. He is the funnest to watch when he’s on his game. When he’s out of the lineup I find myself less interested. It’s a great day with him making his long awaited return to the lineup. The team did a wonderful job navigating his absence. They did way better than I thought they would. Malkin might take a little bit to get going, but if his health holds up he should be a force for the playoffs. And make no mistake the Penguins need him to be if they have illusions of a fourth Stanley Cup in this era.

Some other good news on the injury front involves Jason Zucker. Zucker, who has been week to week with a lower body injury, joined the skate in a non-contact jersey

Jason Zucker just took the ice in a no-contact jersey for the #Pens optional skate pic.twitter.com/uAa7tOHuxm

— Josh Getzoff (@PensJG) January 11, 2022

Zucker has had a better season than his offensive results. Underlying numbers are promising and if he can regress in the good kind of way the Penguins might get a boost from him when he’s back. Having Malkin back in the lineup should create some mismatches for the other teams that haven’t been there so far this year.

It will be Tristan Jarry in net for the Penguins and boy has he played a lot of hockey this year

The first goalie off is Tristan Jarry. This would mark his 27th start of the season and 28th appearance in 35 games.

He's on pace for 66 outings. The last time, the NHL completed an 82-game season in 2018-19, the most-used goalies were Devan Dubnyk (67 gms) and Carey Price (66).

— Mike DeFabo (@MikeDeFabo) January 11, 2022

The Penguins don’t really have the assets or futures to make any big trades, but a “big” trade they could make is getting a backup goaltender who has positive results. The workload they are putting Jarry through is asking for burnout. Casey DeSmith hasn’t shown he has the goods this year, unfortunately.

Casey DeSmith was unavailable because he is in COVID protocol. Louis Domingue will serve as the backup.

The health news isn’t all good today. DAnton Heinen will not be making his return to Anaheim to face his former team. He is symptomatic with COVID. Zach Aston-Reese, who already missed time to COVID this year, is asymptomatic and will also miss the game.

I hope everybody enjoys the return of #71, but you’ll need admission to the Night Owl Club to do it.

Thanks for reading!

Join the Discussion: » 147 Comments » Post New Comment

» It's their fault

» Still alive, for now

» Going to need some help now

» Penguins giveth Penguins taketh away

» Now or never