Malkin's 1,000th game full of tears, smiles, and 'a new experience'

CHICAGO -- Evgeni Malkin called this game "a little bit hard" for him.

"It was a very emotional night," he added. "A new experience."

When the puck dropped Sunday night at the United Center, Malkin became just the second player in the' Penguins history to hit the 1,000-game mark.

There were some pregame tears shed in the locker room before the game, and the 5-3 win over the Blackhawks didn't come easily. In the end, it couldn't have been more fitting that it was Sidney Crosby who notched the late game-winner, ensuring that Malkin's event ended on a happy note.

Malkin was expecting his family to take part in the pregame ceremonies next game. The Penguins are at home against the Flames on Wednesday, and that's when the Penguins will hold a pregame ceremony to recognize Malkin for his achievement. He wasn't anticipating his wife Anna and six-year-old son Nikita being on hand in Chicago for this one.

Penguins players were sitting in the locker room before the game awaiting the announcement of the starting lineup, when Mike Sullivan said that they had a special guest who would be reading it.

Nikita walked in, lineup sheet in hand and read off the names of the Penguins' six starters. He ended with "71, Evgeni Malkin," drawing applause from the team. He ran to his dad for a hug, and both father and son got a little teary-eyed:

What happened when the Penguins took the ice for warmups had Malkin grinning from ear-to-ear.

It wasn't a total surprise. When Crosby played his 1,000th game in the 2020-21 season, his teammates paid tribute to him in a pretty fitting way. Everyone knows that Crosby has an intricate warmup routine that he sticks to exactly. One of the steps in that routine is when Crosby drops to a knee and reties his skates, always at the same point of warmups, always at the same spot on the ice. 

Malkin has his own typical warmup routine, one that opens with an intricate series of stretches at the right faceoff circle. And when he dropped down to that dot to go through the stretches, every one of his teammates dropped to the ice along with him and followed along:

"It's not a big surprise for me because we do the same for Sid when he played his 1,000th game," Malkin said. "But I was surprised we did it here because I thought it would be better to do it at home, maybe. It's more fun."

Malkin said he "tried to do it my best" when he saw everyone following his lead like an impromptu yoga class.

"I saw everyone repeat my routine, it's crazy and fun," he said with a smile.

Rickard Rakell said afterward that it was Crosby who told players the day before about the plan to copy Malkin's routine.

"Everyone's got their own quirks," Crosby said of the idea. "For my thousandth game we did the tying the skates, and Geno's got his original moves that he does out there. We just tried to have fun with that. ... It's just really cool to be a part of."

Kris Letang said that he could see the emotion in Malkin during the game.

"The smile he had in warmups, his emotion when his son came into the room, it was special," Letang said. Sometimes Geno doesn't show emotion that much. He's a pretty strong guy, usually. But to see him like that, it's special. It's fun to see."

When the game started, it was a little difficult to put all of those pregame emotions behind him and focus on hockey.

"It's not just like one or two games in your life," he said. "It's a lot of emotion, lots of thinking in your head."

Brock McGinn got the Penguins off to a good start, beating Blackhawks goaltender Arvid Soderblom just 64 seconds into the game with a slapshot from the left circle off of a setup from Rakell. That was the game's only goal until Malkin made it a 2-0 game early in the second period with a shot from the slot after a great play by Ryan Poehling to set him up:

Rakell scored a one-timer off of a pass from Crosby 80 seconds later to put the Penguins up by three goals. Blackhawks goals from Jujhar Khaira and Patrick Kane cut the Penguins' lead to one goal by the second intermission, and then a late third-period goal by Philipp Kurashev tied the game.

There were less than five minutes on the clock, and for the first time all game it seemed like there was a real possibility that Malkin's night could get spoiled.

That is, until the captain had something to say about it.

The game wasn't even tied for a full minute before Crosby drove to the net and beat Soderblom with a backhand shot, a goal that would stand as the game-winner:

"I say 'thank you' to Sid," Malkin said afterward. "He scored a goal. It's a great memory for me and my family, an emotional night."

Crosby knew how much this game meant to Malkin, and he was happy to have played his part in making Malkin's night end with a win.

"It was a great lead-up to the game with the warm ups and Nikita being here," Crosby said. "I'm sure it was a lot of thoughts going through his mind today. But to cap it off with the win makes it extra special. That was pretty emotional."

Sullivan took a moment to reflect on what this game meant for Malkin -- and what Malkin has meant for the franchise -- after the win.

"There aren't too many players that play in this league that accomplish playing 1,000 games, never mind playing 1,000 games for a single franchise," Sullivan said. "We all know what Geno means to the city of Pittsburgh and the organization, the legacy that he's built. So I know it was a special night for his family to celebrate with him, which was terrific. And I think it just makes the experience that much more memorable, the fact that we could end up in the win column."

I asked Sullivan about the role Crosby played on the night: "Just how special was it that Crosby was the one to ensure Malkin got the win? There had to have been a little added motivation for Crosby given his relationship with Malkin, right?"

"I think so," Sullivan said. "Those guys, they have such a great relationship. They built such a legacy together. It just seems that all these milestones, they're all reaching them together. ... Every time we turn around, one of them's accomplishing something else. It just speaks volumes for the players they are and what they've accomplished in Pittsburgh as Pittsburgh Penguins. They have an impressive legacy. They're the greatest core that I've ever been around, that's for sure."

Malkin still seemed caught up in the emotion of the evening after the game. He took a moment and reflected on what these past 1,000 games have been like for him, and spoke of hoping to add to that count in the years to come.

"I hope I stay here all my life," Malkin said. "It's an amazing team, an amazing organization. ... Thank you to my teammates, they supported me and shared my day with me."

GETTY

Evgeni Malkin celebrates his goal Sunday night in Chicago

MORE FROM THE GAME

• Jeff Carter sealed the win with an empty-netter. Crosby had the assist on it, giving him four points in this game (one goal, three assists) and 10 points on the three-game road trip.

"The numbers speak for itself," Sullivan said of Crosby's road trip. "He was just tremendous. He just has the ability to elevate his game at key times, and a lot of times he's the difference. You saw what he did late in the game, and that's what he's capable of."

• The coaching staff had a running bet with the players through this road trip: After the initial win in Minnesota, the coaches told players that if they won in Winnipeg, the coaching staff would grow mustaches through Christmas. After that win, the coaches told the team that if they swept the trip, they'd grow the mustaches an extra week through the Winter Classic. After the game, there were playful chirps of "Put those razors away!" from players.

• A funny line from Letang when asked if he's worried about players copying him in his warmups for his 1,000th game later this season: "I hope they forget about it. There's no way they can mimic anything I do."

• Poehling has been pretty good this season at creating offense while shorthanded. He had a shorthanded breakaway in the third period of this game but was denied. He leads the Penguins with the highest rate of scoring chances per 60 minutes of shorthanded ice time, with 6.65. His rate of high-danger attempts while shorthanded is 3.99, which is just about double the rate of the next-highest player, Josh Archibald.

• P.O Joseph's been one of the Penguins' better defensemen this season. He's really made strides in his defensive game. We're still not seeing anything close to the level of offensive production from him that we saw in Wilkes-Barre, but the Penguins think that he still is capable of adding that dimension to his game.

"I think P.O's playing well," Sullivan said before this game. "I think he's just got a good, solid two-way game. I think one of his greatest strengths is his mobility. One of his real strengths is just getting back to pucks quickly, helping us get out of our end. Sometimes he can skate us out of trouble, sometimes he just gets back to pucks quickly and he can pass us out of trouble. ... He has an offensive side to his game. I think there's another level to P.O's offensive side. We're trying to work with him in that capacity. But I think with each additional game that he gets under his belt, I think he gets a little bit better every game."

• This was the Penguins' first win in Chicago since Feb. 27, 2009, a pretty insane stat. That game was a 5-4 overtime win for the Penguins, with Jordan Staal, Chris Kunitz, Miroslav Satan and Max Talbot all tallying in regulation, and Malkin getting the overtime-winner after the Penguins blew a two-goal lead in the third period. The Penguins managed to take three puck-over-glass penalties in that game, two by Ruslan Fedotenko. Marc-Andre Fleury made 41 saves on 45 shots.

I asked Malkin after the game why he thinks it was such a challenge to win in this building over the years

"It's so loud here," he said. "The fans love hockey."

• The Blackhawks raised Marian Hossa's No. 81 into the rafters in a pregame ceremony, only the eighth time in franchise history they've retired a number. Eddie Olczyk led the ceremonies, Brent Seabrook, Patrick Sharp, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Duncan Keith, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews were all brought out to sit behind Hossa for the ceremony, as well as Hossa's wife, their three children, and Hossa's mother and father. It was all really well-done. Couldn't help but think about how there will be a few nights of these to cover in Pittsburgh in the coming years, with at least Nos. 68, 71 and 87 all going into the rafters at some point.

Hossa had breakfast with his former Penguins teammates on Sunday morning, No hard feelings there after he left the Penguins in 2008 for Detroit.

• I asked Sullivan before the game about that big scratch he's had on his nose since the start of this road trip. He said that he was sleeping and one of his black labs jumped on him to wake him up. It's funny, he had a mark on his nose to open training camp last season and it was the same story.

• Penguins forward prospect Zam Plante was outside the locker room after the game and met with some of the members of the coaching staff. Plante, a center who was picked by the Penguins in the fifth round this summer, plays for the Chicago Steel in the USHL.

• Obligatory press-box snack update: This place is an A+. Pringles, several kinds of other chips, popcorn, gummy bears, chocolate-covered pretzels, some kind of chocolate-peanut butter balls, cookies, blondies, fruit, cheese, dinner rolls, as well as sandwiches and salads. Remind me next time I come here not to eat beforehand.

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics

THE HIGHLIGHTS

THE THREE STARS

As selected at United Center:

1. Sidney Crosby, Penguins C
2. Evgeni Malkin, Penguins C
3. Rickard Rakell, Penguins RW

THE INJURIES

• It's pretty rare that there isn't anything to fill this space. This is one of those times. The Penguins are actually healthy.

THE LINEUPS

Sullivan’s lines and pairings:

Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Rickard Rakell
Jason Zucker - Evgeni Malkin - Bryan Rust
Brock McGinn - Jeff Carter - Danton Heinen
Ryan Poehling - Teddy Blueger - Josh Archibald

Marcus Pettersson - Kris Letang
P.O Joseph - Jeff Petry
Brian Dumoulin - Jan Rutta

And for Luke Richardson's Blackhawks:

Andreas Athanasiou - Max Domi - Patrick Kane
Philipp Kurashev - Jonathan Toews - Taylor Raddysh
Jujhar Khaira - Jason Dickinson - Colin Blackwell
MacKenzie Entwistle - Sam Lafferty - Reese Johnson

Jarred Tinordi - Connor Murphy
Jack Johnson - Jake McCabe
Caleb Jones - Ian Mitchell

THE SCHEDULE

That's a wrap on the road trip; the Penguins went 3-0 on this one. They a scheduled day off on Monday. They'll be back to work with a practice at PPG Paints Arena at 11 a.m. on Tuesday that will be closed to the public. Next game is Wednesday at home against the Flames, where Malkin's 1,000th game will be celebrated in front of the home crowd.

THE CONTENT

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