Malkin’s disappearing act

From James Mirtle of From the Rink:

Speaking of Malkin, most pundits are being rather kind in their criticism so far, but he was pathetic in this game – hurting his team more than helping in several key instances. He and Ovechkin may have finished 1-2 in the scoring race (and likely the Hart voting) but there’s no comparison so far in this series. And it’ll be a short one if Malkin doesn’t show up soon.

Mirtle has some other thoughts on last night’s game here.

More thoughts on Malkin from JP over at Japers Rink:

I wonder if anyone is regretting picking Evgeni Malkin first on their Hart Trophy ballot right now – and if they might be having a similar regret about writing Mike Green‘s name for Norris.

JP has more thoughts on Game 2 here.

Finally, some thoughts from Dave Shoalts of the Globe & Mail:

The difference in the equation was with the third superstar, Evgeni Malkin of the Penguins. He was better than he was in the first game but is still without a goal in five games while the man checking him much of the time, Capitals centre Dave Steckel, has a goal in each of the first two games of the series.

Read Shoalts’s account of the game here.

So, there you have it.  Malkin’s been missing in action, and as Mirtle says, the media has been fairly easy on him.  To me, his play in the team’s first two games may be the difference in this series.  Crosby has been sensational, yet the Penguins now have to win 4 out of the next 5 possible games to win this series.  Safe to say that if that happens, Malkin will have brought it starting with Game 3 at home. 

Oh by the way, if you didn’t catch it this morning, we started looking for Malkin last night with this picture.