If there was any concern about Evgeni Malkin being rusty in his surprising return from a concussion, he erased those doubts with gusto on Monday.
After missing four games, the 26-year-old star scored a goal and an assist in a great return as the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3. As you can see from the video below, his tally was a genuine beauty:
Yup, he looks pretty healthy. Malkin finished with five shots on goal, went 7-5 in the faceoff circle and logged just under 21 minutes of ice time.
Star power was the story of the game, overall. Sidney Crosby also had a great game with a goal and an assist of his own while Steven Stamkos bumped his league-leading goals total to 17 with two tallies.
Tampa Bay is now on a five-game losing streak and only has four victories since Feb. 1 (4-11-1 in 16 games). Mathieu Garon’s injury can’t make the Bolts feeling any better, either.