Pittsburgh Penguins’ defenseman Olli Maatta remains in the hospital Wednesday, after being taken Tuesday following an injury suffered during the team’s 4-3 win over the Minnesota Wild, reports Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Advertisement
“The issue I had with it was, why was the (players’) gate open, and there was a push from behind”, Johnston said. “It’s still not flawless but it’s a little bit better and I hope we all understand what’s starting to go on on the team and support each other and start winning”.
David Perron and Beau Bennett also scored for Pittsburgh. But even with that goal, the Wild trailed 4-2 entering the third period. Malkin had the primary assists on both of the Pens’ other tallies and was second on the team in shots, with four, behind Phil Kessel.
Minnesota got goals from Mikael Granlund, Mikko Koivu and Jared Spurgeon. “Then, we gave up a couple power-play goals”. “We have to deal with certain things and I plan on dealing with internally, but certainly not going to start elaborating here”. During that stretch the Penguins lit the lamp three different times. Malkin didn’t hide his frustration after the 4-0 defeat, leading to a closed door meeting meant to clear the air.
At 8:15 of the second period, Malkin scored his fifth of the season, blasting a low shot past Dubnyk. He flipped it into the net to give the Penguins a needed jolt.
This offense is too good to continue slumping, and Johnston will either find more efficient ways to deploy and use his players, or someone else will. But in the meantime, that Malkin goal is worth watching eight times in a row. “They scored four power-play goals and one short-handed goal, and that was the story of the game”.
Malkin backed up his words with two goals and a pair of assists during the 4-3 home victory after totaling just two points in his previous seven games.
Wild coach Mike Yeo challenged the call, insisting Patric Hornqvist interfered with Dubnyk, but the call was upheld. “So obviously it was a pretty impressive play by him”.
Maatta was hit from behind by Minnesota’s Nino Niederreiter midway through the second period right in front of the Wild bench.
As you can see in the video above, there are reasons to believe that this may not amount to much more than a month-and-change of better-than-expected play. “I feel bad, but it’s unfortunate”.
Advertisement
But the Wild continued to climb back in.
