Pittsburgh Penguins

Malkin returns to practice ahead of Game 2 against Capitals

PITTSBURGH, PA - JANUARY 07: Evgeni Malkin #71 of the Pittsburgh Penguins skates with the puck against the Boston Bruins at PPG PAINTS Arena on January 7, 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Matt Kincaid/Getty Images)

Evgeni Malkin returned to practice for the first time in over a week since suffering a lower-body injury in Game 5 of the series with the Philadelphia Flyers.

He's missed the last two games and will be listed as a "game-time decision" according to Mike Sullivan.

"I thought he looked pretty good," Sullivan said.

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Malkin took his normal spot on the top power play during practice and appeared to be anxious to get back into action tomorrow afternoon in Game 2.

"I feel so much better," Malkin said. "We'll see how I feel overnight. I can't say right now but it feels so much better."

Malkin originally suffered the lower-body injury after getting tangled with Flyers' forward Jori Lehtera and crashing into the boards in the first period eight days ago. He returned to that contest and finished the game, but has missed the past two.

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"When you feel something wrong you always hope it won't be bad," he said. "You hope it's small. Sometimes you need time to recover. I did my best. I couldn't play but maybe tomorrow."
Malkin admitted his conditioning was a little off but says there will be no excuses if he does go in Game 2.

"If I play, I'm ready to play," Malkin said. "If I play you need to go 100 percent."

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"If we choose to put 'Geno' in the lineup tomorrow he's going to play," Sullivan said. "We're going to try to put him in a position to play to his strengths and be successful."

The Penguins have won both games without Malkin in the lineup, to which he says is a sign of how deep this team is.

"They won two games without me, great team. They played so hard," Malkin said. "If I'm in tomorrow I'll try to do my best and make us stronger."