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Evgeni Malkin will return tonight as the Penguins are back at home, to face the Tampa Bay Lightning.
#Pens coach Bylsma: (We) follow protocol carefully. Taken every precaution possible with Evgeni. He's felt good for 7 full days now.
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 4, 2013
#Pens Bylsma: Malkin has been a long time going through protocol. He's seen docs, gone through regimen. Finished all that yesterday.
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 4, 2013
Obviously good news for the Pens, who surprisingly had no real trouble scoring goals while Malkin was out, but will take his return to health and the lineup just the same.
Paul Martin, however, will still be out. He is skating, but not in full gear and remains the dreaded "day-to-day".
It remains to be seen what the Pens do, from the morning skate it appears that rookie Beau Bennett or frequent healthy scratch Dustin Jeffrey could be the odd-man out tonight.
For Tampa, tonight will be an important game- they're currently riding a four game losing streak that started when Pittsburgh beat them 5-3 on February 24th. A big losing streak is how you fall out of the playoff picture, but in the very weak Southeast division they still probably have a chance if they can get things righted soon.
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