Pittsburgh forward Evgeni Malkin, in a conversation with , spoke about his team’s majority in the NHL.
Pittsburgh lost to Florida in a shootout (2:3). Malkin scored with a goal. In the current league, Pittsburgh ranks second to last in the league in power play conversion (13.3%). Washington comes in fifth from the bottom (14.0%). The NHL leaders are Tampa Bay (30.5%), as well as the Rangers and Carolina (27.7% each). 13.3% is the worst percentage in Pittsburgh history.
— What is missing from your team in the majority?
– You are right when you say that one more goal on the power play, and we would have had 10 more points. We understand this very well ourselves, we are the majority every day. It’s hard to say we’re not working on it. But our entire season was largely a mess. This happens, even though we are at the bottom of the NHL table for this component. This needs to be fixed.
A lot depends on us. If we scored better on the power play, we would now be in the playoff zone. In some places we lack confidence, in others we lack luck. A little bit of everything. Hockey is a game where a single goal can change everything, including the atmosphere within the team. When you don’t score in several matches in a row, a bad streak starts to haunt you.
Perhaps something will have to be changed in the second half of the season. There are some very important matches taking place. But we try not to get upset. We focus on every game. If it didn’t work today, it will have to be done tomorrow.
— But for 17 years under your leadership, Pittsburgh has always been at the same level in terms of majority, but now it is only an anti-record.
“Again, we see the same thing happening in Washington.” It looks like we’re doing the same thing, but it’s not working. I watched their matches. On the other hand, “Tampa Bay” or “Colorado” – they competently stand up and score the majority like clockwork.
-What do they do differently?
“It seems to me they’re moving the puck quicker.” And in our house, everyone does a little too much. When you enter the zone, you have to do everything with one touch. All our guys are technical, they can do everything. We need to feel the puck better, change places somewhere. We have a few pieces that we are looking at. But we were stuck and we seemed lost. You just have to hold the puck, even if you don’t shoot.
It’s difficult to say, everyone has their own opinion, and there are five players in the majority. Some want to hold the puck more, others want to shoot more. But I believe there is no need to overexpose him,” Malkin told .
Pittsburgh is in 12th place in the Eastern Conference with 49 points in 45 matches.
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I’m Emma Smith, a dedicated journalist and avid storyteller. I have been writing for news websites for the past 5 years, reporting on hockey news and delivering in-depth analysis of the sport. In my current role as Author at Athletistic, I write about hockey events from around the world to keep followers up-to-date with what’s happening in the sport.
