Kovacevic: Geno's 1,200th NHL point has him -- vocally -- wanting more

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- "It's not over. It's not over."

It's not always easy to tell when Evgeni Malkin's joking, if only because that's something of a constant state with him. So when AT&T SportsNet's Dan Potash was asking him, fresh off the ice from the Penguins' 6-3 doubling of the Ducks on this Friday night at the Honda Center, how it felt to have just recorded his 1,200th NHL point, he hardly waited for the first syllable of the first question before interjecting what's above.

And no, even though he'd laugh upon doing so ...

... yeah, trust me, he's not joking.

Like, at all.

Because a few minutes later, after Mike Sullivan and the players took an extra moment to acknowledge Geno's latest milestone, followed by a robust round of applause, the big man was seated at his stall as I approached and ... oh, just watch:

I mentioned the number, too, while adding that he's still playing so well, and he again interjected, "Thank you! Thank you!" before another grin and a turn to his left, where Rust was still seated. To which Rust would belt out, "Geno best!"

I then mentioned to Geno that, in addition to playing so well, he hasn't altered his style. Which would suggest, I'd add, that he might be thinking of a point total far larger than the one at hand. And I asked what that actual number might be.

"You tell me," he'd reply.

Put on the spot, I spat out 1,500. 

"Close to Gretzky or what?" the next joke came.

And no, Wayne Gretzky wound up with, um, 2,857. No one else has touched 2,000. But the 1,500 milepost, that'd have Geno all the way up at 15th on the all-time list, just behind Paul Coffey if he were there today. The next level, 1,600, feels a little high. I mean, the man is 36 years old, and his contract extends only an additional three full seasons. Respectfully, and presuming he'd be done after that term, that'd be a ton of points in such a span even for prime-of-his-life Geno.

Finally turning serious, he'd add, "I had a couple injuries -- big injuries -- but 1,200 is a good number. Life is good. I don't want to think about, 'Oh, how many points could I have with no injuries?' I'd like to say thank God. He gave me everything. I've played on a great team."

Slight pause.

"Still, three more years, maybe when I'm retired, I can have 1,500 points. That's a good number, too. I'm OK."

Yeah, no. Sorry, but he's doing far better than OK. And not only does he know that, but he also wants to make sure everybody knows it.

Not everyone's familiar with this side of Geno. I've seen it. 

First time was 2014 while covering the Sochi Olympics, which also, not coincidentally, was maybe the peak of his career, a couple years removed from his 50-goal Hart Trophy campaign. He was out of Sidney Crosby's shadow, a place where he's always been genuinely comfortable, largely because he loves winning but also because of his immense individual respect for Sid. Now, though, he'd be in Alexander Ovechkin's shadow. Not just on the same team, but on the same line. And I'll sum it up by saying that each man took the ice, shift after shift after shift, performing at a manic pace in trying to impress the home crowd -- and for some games, Vladimir Putin -- and show them who's the real king of Russian hockey right there on Russian soil.

I've never seen anything like it. It's difficult to describe, even now, to my own satisfaction. But suffice it to say, they were soon split up in search of a more sustainable contribution from both.

Why'd it occur at all?

I asked Geno in Sochi at the time, and he acted like he had no clue what I meant. I've asked him since, and he'll still downplay it.

Now, especially after these past few months, it couldn't be clearer: He wants, without ever really saying it, to be understood that no shadow -- not Sid's, not Ovi's, not anyone's -- should be so great to overshadow his own greatness.

Remember the fiasco when the NHL celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2017 by naming a Top 100 Players of All-time list ... and left him off?

While including bleeping Duncan Keith? And about 50 more who couldn't carry Geno's bucket of pucks to the bench?

Remember the team photo taken right here in the L.A. area of the Penguins who made the list?

GETTY

The NHL 100 celebration in 2017 in Los Angeles, L-R: Bryan Trottier, Sidney Crosby, Paul Coffey, Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Ron Francis, Luc Robitaille.

Look at that. Just look at that.

With all due respect to the gentlemen there, the absence of Geno's stomach-turning to this day. Because this wasn't just any other list. This was the league's list. At a league event. With the hockey world watching. This was, as a century marker, an opportunity that won't arise again.

It started to change for Geno then, and he barely waited: He'd be breathing fire later that same spring on the way to a third Stanley Cup championship, and he was, more than at any stage of his career, a 200-foot beast throughout.

But it might've changed the most, at least from my perspective, over the past summer. That's, of course, when Malkin was faced with free agency for the first time and very obviously wanted nothing more than to stay in Pittsburgh ... but not if he'd feel slighted in any way. So while he was carefree and kidding about how it wouldn't take much to keep him, once the clock began ticking and Ron Hextall was hoping that he'd maybe keep that word and come at a discount, he did take it personally.

“I believe I am still a good player," he'd say last May, "and I believe good players sign good contracts.”

He signed what he wanted on the very eve of free agency in July. Four years at an average annual value of $6.1 million.

But even after that, he kept sending signals that he had plenty more to prove, starting with a rare early arrival in training camp, continuing with a near-seamless effort in all facets and on all quadrants of the rink, and resulting to date in 19 goals, 35 assists and not a solitary game missed yet out of the Penguins' 51.

Small wonder that Sullivan's been moved to near-poetry about Geno all winter, including after this game.

"He's been pretty consistent all year long," Sullivan would say. "He's playing the game with a lot of drive. He's hungry. And he's on the puck. I've always said this, but when Geno's at his best, the puck seems to follow him. That's what it felt like tonight. He had the puck an awful lot when he was on the ice. He's such a dominant player."

The output wasn't dominant -- two assists, three shots -- but Sullivan's stance was sound. The puck followed Geno as it were one of the cheesy vapor trails the Bally Sports West network was utilizing on its broadcast to help Californians track the puck.

Also, there was that slice of history, begun in the third period when Rust danced around Anaheim's Dmitry Kulikov and tried a forehand stuff past John Gibson that wouldn't go:

Chad Ruhwedel retrieved and fed low to Geno, who'd cycle across the top of the right circle before turning his wrists to slip it down to Rust, who this time chose the backhand: 

"That's OK," Geno'd tell me, with Rust in earshot. "He's better on his backhand, anyway."

"I really am," Rust would respond.

I was most struck, though, by how Rust responded on the rink, rushing before even raising his arms to notify the referees to collect the puck:

And afterward, for as long as Geno sat at his stall taking questions about 1,200, about being the third in franchise history to reach it behind Mario and Sid, about being the 17th-fastest to reach it in history, Rust was planted right next to him. Didn't budge Exited with him, too.

I asked Rust what he'd thought of all this, and he did some joking of his own: "Geno best!"

Certainly one of the best. Meaning ever. And it's well past time that's appreciated beyond Allegheny County borders.

GETTY

Both teams' benches, shot from the Honda Center roof, Friday night in Anaheim, Calif.

• Kris Letang was a surprise scratch due to illness. Given Letang's history, I asked Sullivan after the game to elaborate -- the team normally never would -- and he obliged by sharing, "Kris just wasn't feeling well before the game. Hopefully, he'll recover and feel better tomorrow."

That'd mean he'd face the Kings in the second of these back-to-backs. That's a 10:38 p.m. Eastern time faceoff up the road.

• P.O Joseph's first two-goal, first three-point game in the NHL was quite the sight. Danny Shirey's got that covered.

• Everyone loves Mark Friedman when he's feisty. Which is almost always. Danny's also got that after Friedman was forced to replace Letang.

• The Ducks are every bit as bad as their minus-83 goal differential would indicate, accommodating more visitors over more open real estate than nearby Disneyland. But I'm not inclined to strip credit from the Penguins, who'd own this outcome to such an extreme that I don't even know where to start: Shots were 59-31, shot attempts were 91-42 and high-danger chances were 27-7.

I can't recall covering another game like it.

I asked Sullivan if he was satisfied with the general showing, meaning seeing more of what he hopes to see from his team in general, and he didn't exactly mince words: "I liked a lot of it. I thought it was a pretty dominant performance. I thought we had the puck an awful lot. I thought we generated numerous scoring chances. We've been trying to encourage our guys to put more pucks on the net and create some offense that way, and I thought we did that tonight."

• I mean ...

NATURAL STAT TRICK

No one needs to a nerd to get this. It's shot attempts taken by the Penguins and Ducks at five-on-five while those three, individually, were on the ice. Meaning, for example, that the Penguins generated 40 shot attempts, the Ducks just five, in the 17:15 of ice time Jake Guentzel had.

One could live to the NHL's next centennial and not see a single line do this again at even-strength.

• The most compelling quote about the Penguins' performance might've come from the other side, and Anaheim's coach, Dallas Eakins: "We ran into a very desperate team. That’s a team that, even though there’s a little over a third of the season left, they know they’re in a massive playoff fight."

When was the last time anyone described the Penguins that way?

• I asked a couple players if they felt they'd outperformed their 2-1 overtime victory over the Avalanche back home Tuesday night, and they agreed they had. One added, "Yeah, we played 26 minutes in that one."

Ow. But true.

• Jeff Carter scored a goal. Visual evidence:

Don't get any ideas. In a game that saw three of the Penguins' forward lines own every shaving of ice, Carter's line that also includes Brock McGinn and Kasperi Kapanen -- and this is legit mind-blowing, in context -- still somehow ceded more shot attempts to the Ducks than they allowed.

That said, Carter did well to capitalize on Gibson's clumsiness in patiently pulling the puck back out of the Anaheim crease, then roofing it for his first goal -- and first point -- since Jan. 8 against the Coyotes in Tempe, Ariz.

• McGinn's last point came Dec. 22. I couldn't make that up.

• Casey DeSmith gave up two strikingly long-range, unscreened goals roughly two minutes apart in the third to Anaheim's Mason McTavish and John Klingberg, lessening a 6-1 lead into 6-3. That didn't impact anything here, but I can't help but wonder if Sullivan, who's openly stated DeSmith might start again in L.A., might now turn to Dustin Tokarski.

• Loved this from Sullivan on how his team's emerged from the bye: "I think we're making strides. I really do. I think we're growing as a group. I think we're getting a better understanding of how we need to play, and what that game looks like when we're at our best. And then, to a man, what everybody's role is in helping this team win and making sure that you pride yourself on bringing a certain game to help us. Whether you're on the penalty-kill or you're getting a defensive-zone faceoff start or you're in the offensive zone or on the power play ... all these guys are in this room for a reason. They bring something to the table that we think helps us be the competitive team that we are."

• Thanks for reading my hockey coverage, as ever.

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule

THE HIGHLIGHTS

THE THREE STARS

As selected at Honda Center:

1. P.O Joseph, Penguins D
2. Evgeni Malkin, Penguins C
3. Bryan Rust, Penguins RW

THE INJURIES

• Tristan Jarry, goaltender, has an upper-body injury and is practicing with the team.

• Jan Rutta, defenseman, has an upper-body injury and is practicing with the team.

THE LINEUPS

Sullivan's lines and pairings:

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

Marcus Pettersson-Jeff Petry
Brian Dumoulin-Mark Friedman
P.O Joseph-Chad Ruhwedel

And for Eakins' Ducks:

Adam Henrique-Trevor Zegras-Ryan Strome
Frank Vatrano-Mason McTavish-Max Jones
Max Comtois-Isac Lundestrom-Jakob Silfverberg
Derek Grant-Jayson Megna-Brett Leason

Cam Fowler-Dmitry Kulikov
Colton White-John Klingberg
Simon Benoit-Kevin Shattenkirk

THE SCHEDULE

There's another game across town Saturday night, 10:38 p.m. Eastern, against the Kings at Los Angeles' Crypto.com Arena. Danny and I have a rental car.

THE MULTIMEDIA

THE CONTENT

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