The week ahead: Evgeni Malkin (and perhaps Sidney Crosby) return for Penguins

When Pittsburgh Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin received his five-game suspension for slashing Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin a week-and-a-half ago, the timing of it could not have possibly been worse. The Penguins were already playing without their captain and best player, Sidney Crosby, were in the middle of a tough and increasingly close playoff race, and were entering what was going to be by far the toughest part of their schedule. That stretch of games included the start of a five-game road trip that would see them play nothing but potential playoff teams and Stanley Cup contenders.

It could have been a major turning point in the season.

Instead, the Penguins mostly got through it.

In the five games without Malkin and Crosby, the Penguins went 2-1-2 and earned six out of a possible 10 points. That is good enough.

So far in the 10 games without Crosby they are 4-3-3. That is above .500 hockey, which is probably what they needed to do.

Now they go into this week still in a playoff spot, knowing they will get Malkin back on Monday night and potentially Crosby as well.

It is hard to ask for anything more given the circumstances.

Keep something in mind, back on March 5 when the Penguins dropped that game to the Sabres and learned the Malkin suspension news, they were three points clear of the Columbus Blue Jackets and tied with the New York Islanders.

During the time without Malkin they really did not lose much ground to anybody. Here is a look at what the Penguins points leads and deficits were with the other bubble teams in the Eastern Conference playoff race, and how much ground they lost or gained on every team during Malkin’s suspension.

This is another remainder as to how difficult it is to make up points this late in the regular season.

The only team that gained more than one point on them is the Ottawa Senators, who remain four points back.

The New York Islanders gained no ground.

The Columbus Blue Jackets, Philadelphia Flyers and Boston Bruins gained only one point each.

The Penguins actually gained a point on the Washington Capitals and gained three points on the Detroit Red Wings.

It would have been great to get those overtime points against Philadelphia and Carolina, especially with full two-minute power plays in overtime to work with, but every point during this stretch mattered. If somebody told you on March 5 that they would get six out of the next 10 points, regardless of the manner in which they were earned, you probably would have signed up for that and taken it.

They still hold a playoff position. They still have the tiebreaker over every team on this list, which is important.

Now they have some help on the way.

The week begins on Monday with what might be their toughest game of the season, on the road at the NHL’s best team, the Colorado Avalanche.

Colorado does everything well, has star-power all over the lineup and got even better at the trade deadline with the addition of Nazem Kadri, giving them a powerhouse trio of centers with Nathan MacKinnon, Brock Nelson and Kadri down the middle. They have only lost 12 games in regulation all season, and only five on home ice. Getting even a point out of that game would be huge.

The Penguins then conclude this five-game road trip on Wednesday night where it began in Carolina. This time they should be somewhat closer to having a full lineup, while also getting the Hurricanes on the second half of a back-to-back, as they will be playing in Columbus on Tuesday night. There is a little bit of a schedule boost there. The Penguins have actually held their own against the Hurricanes this season, earning three out of a possible four points in the games against them. Their first game against them, a 5-1 win in Pittsburgh, came when the Hurricanes were coming in on the second half of a back-to-back. Maybe they can be vulnerable there.

The Penguins then finally return home during the weekend with a back-to-back set of games against the Winnipeg Jets and the Hurricanes again.

Winnipeg has been one of the worst teams in the NHL this season, but is trying to cling to some slim playoff hopes in the Western Conference and has been playing a little better recently. As long as Connor Hellebuyck is in the lineup, they are going to be a formidable opponent, but it is not a particularly good team overall. This might be the most winnable game of the week.

Then they get their fourth and final game with the Hurricanes this season to complete the back-to-back. This time, however, the Penguins will be the team playing the second half of the back-to-back while Carolina is coming in rested.

This is going to be a challenging week. Perhaps even more daunting than the previous week, even with a potentially better lineup. Pretty much every game for the next two or three weeks is going to be this way. They are going to lose some of these games. They just are. But so are a lot of the teams they are competing with. Columbus and Boston both play almost equally hard schedules. Detroit is dealing with major long-term injuries to its top-two centers. Philadelphia and Washington are just so far back and in a spot where it is going to be really difficult to make up that many points in the stanidngs.

The Penguins do not need to finish ahead of all of these teams, they just need to finish ahead of a few of them. That is not an overly high bar.

Eight more wins gets them to 97 points. They might be enough.

If they can get two of those wins this week, or some combination of results that gets them at least four or five points, that would be a good path to start their way there. Having their two best players back, or even just one of them (Malkin) would be really, really helpful for that.

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