The Swamp

brian wrote:Being surrounded by Pens jerseys reminds I still have some instinctive hate from the late 00s though.

brian wrote:Pens fans bought a LOT of Fleury merchandise yesterday. One story I saw said that the arena stores got a fresh batch of stuff in yesterday morning and it was all gone by the time the puck dropped.

So, what are the keys to maximizing Malkin's efforts while on the ice with him?

1. Get out of the way
Hagelin said it, and he's not the only one who agrees.

“That's the first thing you have to do,” Bryan Rust said. “It's kind of a weird way to look at it and some guys probably aren't comfortable with it at first. But you've just got to trust him.”

2. Take a man with you
Hagelin intelligently pointed out that Malkin doesn't need help with the first wave of defenders, his skating and awareness so exceptional that the first man or two won't strip him of the puck very often.

“So what you do is take another guy with you,” Hagelin said. “He's going to get past the first couple of guys on his own. You know that. So, what I want to do when he's got the puck in one of those moods is just take a guy with me. That's going to open up space for him, and space is what he needs.”

Rust played on Malkin's left wing for a good portion of the 2017 postseason. He and Hagelin have both been effective on his left side, perhaps because they share an understanding of how to play with him.

“Give him support but still stay out of the way, and draw someone to you,” Rust said. “Do that, and he'll either find someone who's open or he'll just do everything himself.”

3. Don't get insulted
It's perfectly fine if Malkin becomes a puck hog. He's a future hall of famer, after all. Thus, he's a little different.

“All of our top players want the puck, but he especially does,” Conor Sheary said. “You saw what he did with Haggy there on that goal. He obviously wanted the puck. For Geno, it's just totally instincts. He obviously had something in his bag that he wanted to try, and a few seconds later, he turns it into a highlight-reel goal. ”

When Malkin emerged from the penalty box, there was a sense at PPG Paints Arena that something special was about to happen.

His teammates sitting on the bench sensed it, too.

“Oh yeah,” Sheary said. “We could feel it happening. We've seen him do a lot of incredible things, but even our jaws dropped on the bench on that goal. It's pretty special.”

Some players don't function well when they're angry. Crosby and Kris Letang are probably good examples of players who are at their best when conditions are serene.

Malkin, however, seems to thrive when filled with aggravation.

“Oh yeah,” Hagelin said. “No doubt about it. When he's mad, a little pissed off, that's when you see him playing his best hockey. I think that's one of the reasons the playoffs suit him so well. He's always great in the playoffs and emotions are always high in the playoffs. It all kind of makes sense. There's no one like him, I know that.”

rass wrote: ↑Tue Dec 04, 2018 8:40 pmJust watching via phone notifications, but dammit?

bapo! wrote: ↑Wed Dec 05, 2018 10:24 am Every game is an adventure with this team. They were lucky that DeSmith had a very good game (42 saves on 45 shots) and that Varlamov let in some janky goals. Even Sid and Guentzel's possession numbers were pretty bad last night.

Patric Hornqvist scored a hat trick in 2:47, breaking the great Nils Ekman's team record of 4:10. One of my friends was reminiscing about Ekman a couple of months ago and brought up his record. (My friends are geeks, too.) He mentioned it again last week, after Sid scored a hat trick in 5:35. And now Ekman has been swept into the dustbin of history.

sancarlos wrote: ↑Wed Dec 05, 2018 12:01 pmAh, Nils Ekman. He also had one darn good season with the Sharks, back in the day!

rass wrote: ↑Thu Dec 06, 2018 7:42 pm Came here to complain about them getting outworked on yet another SH goal and....

rass wrote: ↑Thu Dec 06, 2018 7:57 pm MSG just showed an adorbs video of Kuhnhackl mouthing along with the announcement of the Pens roster on the bench in the pregame.

bapo! wrote: ↑Thu Dec 06, 2018 8:03 pm

rass wrote: ↑Thu Dec 06, 2018 7:57 pm MSG just showed an adorbs video of Kuhnhackl mouthing along with the announcement of the Pens roster on the bench in the pregame.

Aww! I miss him.

It's Superhero Night at the arena. On the local broadcast, Dan Potash is dressed as Batman. It's...something.

sancarlos wrote: ↑Thu Dec 06, 2018 8:54 pmThat guy is a bit irritating.

rass wrote: ↑Thu Dec 06, 2018 9:09 pmRemember how pissed Pens fans were about him a year or two ago?

bapo! wrote: ↑Thu Dec 06, 2018 6:55 pmAre sports fans just bags everywhere?

mister d wrote: ↑Thu Jan 03, 2019 1:36 pmDork.