Penguins Blog

Well it appears as if last night's win came with a price tag.

Evgeni Malkin will miss the next 2-3 weeks with a shoulder strain that has been bothering him for over a week. According to a statement on the Penguins' Website by Dan Bylsma, the move is a precautionary one so that Geno can rest it up and heal properly.

When I saw the headline of "Malkin Out 2-3 Weeks" my heart skipped a beat, but to see that it's a precautionary measure makes me feel a little better.

His absence will require Bylsma to juggle the lines a little more as well.

Here's what I would use at this point and I'm figuring in Tyler Kennedy until more information on his condition is revealed.

Chris Kunitz - Sidney Crosby - Bill Guerin
Chris Bourque - Jordan Staal - Ruslan Fedotenko
Matt Cooke  - Tyler Kennedy - Pascal Dupuis
Eric Godard - Craig Adams - Mike Rupp

Kennedy has experience as a center so shifting him over wouldn't be a major transition for him.

Bourque on the second line is a bit trickier. He's considered to have top six forward potential and he's stepped in and played well in a limited role this season. He assisted on Kunitz's first goal of the season last night as well. I'd put him there for now to give him a chance to prove himself.

As much as I don't want to see the Cooke-Staal-Kennedy line broken up, I don't see how it can't be at this point. By moving Staal up to the second line, he gets a chance to take on a more offensive role. He's shown in the past that he can find the back of the net, so now he has another chance to prove it.

As far as the powerplay goes, it's going to take a couple more games to get used to a couple new players being out there.

The unit looked pretty good against the Habs last night and registered a pair of goals.

My top powerplay unit at this point would be Staal - Crosby - Guerin with Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski on the points.

With Staal and Guerin on the top unit, they can take turns parking their big frames in front of opposing goaltenders to set up screens and clean up rebounds. The key to that strategy would be getting pucks on net, which means Letang and Goligoski can't be afraid to take on a "shoot first" mentality.

If the Pens can continue to win games without Sergei Gonchar and Evgeni Malkin, I can only see that as a good sign for the rest of the year. Every team faces adversity over the course of a season. The Pens are hopefully getting their tests out of the way early on.

Get well soon Geno.