NEW YORK — Neither Sidney Crosby nor Evgeni Malkin will take the ice at Madison Square Garden when the Penguins finish the regular season against the Rangers on Sunday night at 7.
Crosby’s absence is expected. He played Saturday in Toronto, scored his 44th goal of the season, and Penguins coach Mike Sullivan has been fairly explicit about having a rest plan in place for veterans.
Malkin sitting out is a little different. Malkin said Friday in Toronto that he felt he was “close to playing” and hoped he could get in a game before the end of the regular season.
While Sullivan isn’t willing to chance it with Malkin in the regular season, Sullivan did offer a “yeah” when asked whether he expected to have Malkin available for Game 1 against Columbus, the result of the progress Malkin has made.
“We’re really encouraged with his progress,” Sullivan said. “He’s strong. You guys watch him practice every day. He’s really making progress. We’ve taken a cautious approach with him for obvious reasons. We’re certainly encouraged with the progress that he’s made. We’ll take each day as it comes.”
With both out of the lineup, the official total will be 77 when it comes to the number of goals Crosby and Malkin have scored this season. That’s the second-most the duo has scored in a single season behind the 79 they produced in 2009-10.
Barring something crazy, Crosby should be the Rocket Richard Trophy winner by the end of the night. It would be his second such award.
Goaltender Tristan Jarry will make his NHL debut against the Rangers.
He went 28-15-2 with a 2.15 goals-against average and a .925 save percentage with three shutouts with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
The Penguins certainly hope to avoid using three goalies in the playoffs, but having Jarry get some NHL experience should be good either way.
“We want to make sure that we have a healthy roster when the playoffs begin,” Sullivan said. “I think it’s a great opportunity for Tristan to get some NHL action. It’s a great experience for him. He’s had a real solid year for us in Wilkes-Barre. I think this type of experience helps the growth and development of a young goaltender.”
Interesting: Matt Murray didn’t play last night. His last game was Thursday, meaning he’ll go six days between starts entering the postseason. Probably not what he would prefer.
Olli Maatta will return to the Penguins lineup. He’s been out since Feb. 16 because of a hand injury that required surgery.
Sullivan said the Penguins aren’t looking at this like a playoff audition for Maatta. It sounds like they’re going to watch and see what he has, then react accordingly as far as committing to him for the Columbus series.
“We’re not going to put him under that much scrutiny,” Sullivan said. “Obviously he’s been out for a little while. Olli has a body of work that we feel very confident in the player that he is and what he brings to helping our team.”
To his credit, Maatta has been skating and pushing himself extremely hard for several weeks now. He’s one of the regulars I see before practice and morning skates.
Conditioning, as Sullivan said a little while ago, should be no issue. The only thing will be re-acclimating to actual games, something that’s impossible to replicate in practice.
“It’s great for Olli to get an opportunity to get a game,” Sullivan said. “It’s an opportunity for him to get some of his timing back. Olli has been skating for a long time. I’m not as concerned about his conditioning. He’s put a lot of work in as far as preparing himself as best he can. But it’s tough to simulate game conditions, decisions that you have to make under pressure, the timing of situations. The only way players get that is by competing in game competition. I think it’s good for him to have the opportunity to get a game under his belt.”
The rest of the lineup is game-time, but I would expect veterans Matt Cullen, Ron Hainsey and Mark Streit to get a break. Defenseman Ian Cole could also probably use a night off given his physical style and the number of shots he blocks.
Numbers to note
20: The Penguins will be trying to reach 20 road wins for a 10th consecutive season.
276: NHL-best number of goals for the Penguins. It will mark the sixth time in club history they’ve done so, the third time in the Crosby/Malkin Era.
3: Scoring streak for Tom Kuhnhackl.
5: Goal-scoring streak for Jake Guentzel, who has 5-3—8 during that stretch. He and Toronto’s Auston Matthews are the only rookies with five-game goal-scoring streaks this season.
9: Number of healthy defensemen the Penguins now have with Maatta back.
99: Blocked shots for Nick Bonino. Assuming he plays, he could become just the third forward since 2005-06 to block 100 or more. (Mathieu Dandenault did it twice.)
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.
First Published: April 9, 2017, 9:36 p.m.
