Pens Points: Winning Streak Over

Well, the good times weren’t going to last forever, but hopefully they aren’t gone for long. By dropping a 2-1 decision to the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night, the Pittsburgh Penguins saw their six game winning streak come to an abrupt halt, but the most concerning aspect of the game will be the health of Evgeni Malkin. [Pensburgh]

Here’s Pens Points to get your Wednesday started...

The loss to Boston stings, but the worst news to come out of last night is the apparent injury to Evgeni Malkin. He left the game after the first period and never returned, leaving Penguins fans in wait and see mode until we hear more. [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]

Whether you’ve been a Penguins fan for your entire life or just jumped on the bandwagon in the last few years, you know there is not better way to celebrate a win than by ushering Elvis out of the building. Now, you can own a t-shirt that honors that famous phrase. [Pensburgh]

By scoring and assisting on a goal during Monday’s contest, Evgeni Malkin notched his 1,100th career point and moved into 63rd on the NHL’s all time scoring list. It’s safe to say Malkin will still do some climbing before he hangs up the skates. [Pensburgh]

Ever so gradually, the curtain is pulled back on Jim Rutherford’s sudden departure as the Penguins general manager. Speaking to Josh Yohe of The Athletic, Rutherford revealed just how badly he wanted to reacquire goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. [Pensburgh]

Given the back-to-back situation and a busy remainder of the week it was no shock to see the Penguins tap Casey DeSmith as the starter last night. With another back-to-back set on tap this weekend, you can expect to see more of DeSmith in the coming days. [Trib Live]

When looking back and evaluating the 2020-21 season for Kasperi Kapanen, it won’t be hard to pinpoint the turning point for him and his play. Since his benching back in late-February, Kapanen has been on a tear and is building great chemistry with Malkin. [NBC Sports]

Defenseman John Marino was supposed to be a game time decision for last night’s game against Boston, but instead, Marino was placed on injured reserve. The move is retroactive to March 9 so hopefully this is just temporary. [Trib Live]

In a corresponding move, the Penguins recalled forward Frederick Gaudreau from the taxi squad to fill the roster void left by Marino. Radim Zahora was then called up from the AHL and placed on the team’s taxi squad following all the other moves. [Penguins]

Coming off the success of their first large scale vaccination clinic on Monday, the Penguins are teaming up with UPMC to stage another, this time in Cranberry. UPMC Lemieux will be the site and the clinic will run from 9AM to 2PM. [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]

News and notes from around the NHL...

It’s looking increasingly likely that the Nashville Predators will not be a playoff team, thus making them sellers at the trade deadline. One player who will not be dealt however is franchise goaltender Pekka Rinne. [NHL]

For the first time since assault allegations against him surfaced, New York Rangers forward Artemi Panarin spoke to the media. Meeting with the media, Panarin said he has nothing to hide but will not speak on the incident until after the season. [Sportsnet]