Evgeni Malkin News

Not to look too far ahead, what with Game 4 to be played at Madison Square Garden tonight, and the Senators still hanging by a thread in their own Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Penguins, but the scenario is too delicious not to envision, if not also find intimidation in it.

Brandon Sutter was one of the Penguins' go-to guys for faceoffs in the regular season, handling more draws than any teammate except Sidney Crosby and winning 50.2 percent of them.

The Pittsburgh Penguins , behind James Neal , made sure game 5 on Friday night would be an elimination game for the Ottawa Senators .

OK, so the heavily favored Penguins trailed by a goal after one period Wednesday night in Game 4 against the Ottawa Senators, this after their brutal double-overtime defeat in Game 3. I sat down during the 18-minute intermission to figure out what was so terribly wrong.

The number jumped off the stats sheet. Eight blocked shots for Penguins defenseman Paul Martin in Game 3 Sunday night against the Ottawa Senators.

The Penguins' practice didn't reveal lines, but a couple things became eminently clear: Jussi Jokinen will be back for Game 4 tomorrow.

The Pittsburgh Penguins are on quite a warpath in the 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Penguins went 0 for 6 on the power play against Ottawa at Scotiabank Place, failed to convert on a 5-on-3 situation and then allowed a backbreaking short-handed goal with 31 seconds left in regulation that led to overtime and a 2-1 loss in the second overtime.

The Penguins expect exactly that tonight from the Ottawa Senators, back home inside Scotiabank Place as the series shifts north of the Canadian border for Games 3 and 4. The Penguins plan to play with their own brand of desperation.

It was a game where Ottawa needed to rebound in a big way to get this series evened up heading back home.

Evgeni Malkin continued his stellar postseason play with a goal and an assist, as the top-seeded Pittsburgh Penguins handled the Ottawa Senators, 4-1, in Game 1 of this Eastern Conference semifinal from CONSOL Energy Center.

Jarome Iginla is the best player in the NHL who has never experienced what it's like to lift the Stanley Cup, and winning a championship for him is serving as a powerful motivator for a Pittsburgh Penguins team that is favored by many to win its first title in four years.

If one were forced to guess which Pittsburgh Penguin would score a game-winning goal in overtime, Brooks Orpik would be among the last on the list.

Dan Bylsma has been hearing it seemingly from the moment he took over at Pittsburgh Penguins head coach four years ago.

The Pittsburgh Penguins didn't miss a chance to jump out to an early series lead against the Ottawa Senators.

Just as no game between the Penguins and the Ottawa Senators can start before two national anthems are performed, no Dan Bylsma news conference can start unless the Penguins coach lists two topics that are "not discussion points." This is fine as far as it goes; there's nothing that compels Bylsma to describe the prognosis for anyone's upper-, ... (more)

Penguins forwards Chris Kunitz, left, and Evgeni Malkin have been part of a power-play unit that's scoring on a 36 per cent clip this post-season. You would be very hard pressed today to find a recap of Game 1 between the Penguins and Senators that doesn't have at least 36 per cent of it dedicated to their power play .

Appetizers have been wolfed down. Now it's time for the main course: the conference semifinals of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Penguins downed the Ottawa Senators, 4-1, tonight at Consol Energy Center in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series.

Evgeni Malkin led the Penguins with 11 points in six games in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.