Pittsburgh Penguins: Evgeni Malkin Must Bounce Back If Pens Want to Win Series

Think about the following for a second:

In his last 15 regular-season games, Evgeni Malkin recorded at least one point in 14 of them. He was heading into Game 1 against the Philadelphia Flyers with an eight-game point streak.

From those 14 games, 10 of them were multi-point games. 

He essentially did all he could to lock up the Hart Trophy for himself as league MVP.

So one would expect that in the most important game of the season, Malkin would shine and at least contribute on the score sheet for the Pittsburgh Penguins, right?

Wrong.

Malkin laid a goose egg and only had three shots in the Penguins' stunning 4-3 loss to the Flyers.

The Penguins had an unbelievable first period, getting goals from Sidney Crosby, Tyler Kennedy and Pascal Dupuis, but Malkin failed to figure in any of the goals. 

As a matter of fact, he failed to do much after that.

Give credit to the Flyers defensive scheme, which gave Malkin very little room to work with, but the best player in the game should at least be able to help his team capitalize on the power play.

The Pens had three power plays throughout the rest of the game, but Malkin was unable to get anything going. The team looked listless afterwards, allowing the Flyers to gain momentum and the confidence to get back in the game. 

If the Penguins are going to win this series, they're going to need better output from the scoring king. When Malkin scored two or more points this season, the Penguins were 23-4-3 in those games. 

When Malkin was held scoreless in a game, the Penguins were just 6-9-0.

Those records exemplify the notion that the Penguins will go only as far as Malkin will take them. 

Sure they have Sidney Crosby to carry the load, too, but against a Stanley Cup-contending team like the Flyers, both superstars must infuse the team with a scoring charge. 

Malkin can't be invisible again throughout the rest of this series. The Penguins can't afford that. It seemed like Geno's name wasn't even called during NBC Sports' telecast in the second and third periods.

Two other guys that were scoreless on Wednesday were James Neal and Chris Kunitz. Their success is highly dependent on Malkin. The trio formed one of the best lines in hockey this season scoring a combined 251 points on the season.

If Malkin's not on his game, then Neal and Kunitz are going to be quiet, too. He's the playmaker of the line and without him, there's no way in the world Neal and Kunitz would've been able to replicate the seasons they had this year.

Despite Malkin being scoreless, the Penguins can look at this in a positive light.

A Penguins fan can say to himself, "Hey, the team lost by one goal and Malkin didn't do anything."

That's a solid assessment. There's no doubt Malkin will find his way on the score sheet soon. Once he does, the Penguins will be revitalized and the wins will come.

After all, they were averaging 4.5 goals per game in the last 15 games of the season with both Crosby and Malkin in the lineup, so three goals was a little out of character for this team.

However, if Malkin fails to record any points again at home on Friday, then there's a huge cause for concern.

One scoreless game for the world's best player in a home playoff game can be thrown away. Everyone gets a mulligan. 

But consistently poor performances means that the Flyers defense is stifling the Pens explosive player and that's an omen for disaster for the Black and Gold.

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