When the Pittsburgh Penguins hit the ice against the Colorado Avalanche on Monday night, they’ll be getting Evgeni Malkin back from his five-game suspension.
Not a moment too soon, according to Mark Madden during this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast. After all, it feels like the team has been clinging to its current playoff spot with Malkin and Sidney Crosby out of the lineup of late.
“They won the game at Utah (4-3), and that felt like a season saver. Then again, every time they win a game without Sid and Geno, it kind of feels like a season saver. But they just made a ton of bad turnovers,” Madden said of Saturday’s game. “They’re over .500 — more points won than lost in this series of games without Sid and Geno. There are still some cracks in their game they need to get right if they’re going to hold on to a playoff spot. That said, they’ve got heart for days. When they were down 2-0 against Utah. I figured ‘Game over,’ because Utah is a pretty good team and they’re fighting for a playoff spot as well. But they just don’t go down.”
Getting Malkin back in Denver is a good first step. But, as Madden points out, the Penguins need him back in the right frame of mind. Over his previous four games, Malkin had only one assist, and he has failed to score for 10 straight, dating back to Jan. 21.
“Will he still have the boo-boo face? Is he going to go out there and waltz through games like he did at Madison Square Garden the day he made his proclamation about wanting to play another year, but the Penguins wouldn’t give him what he wanted when he wanted it?” Madden said of Malkin’s contract situation.
“Will he cut somebody else’s head off like he did against Buffalo? I still think he’s got to answer some questions and really make up for his absence. Even though they survived it. I have no doubt they would have gotten more points, had he not been suspended. He really betrayed his team and stupidly betrayed the idea that he should be brought back for another season.”
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Then there is the looming wait for Crosby’s return from a leg injury suffered during the Olympics. He’s on the team’s current road trip, which is three games into a five-game stretch.
“I think he made the trip just to give the boys the old ‘okie doke.’ Work the dressing room into thinking, ‘OK, just hold on. He’ll be back any minute. Just hold on. He’ll be back any minute. Get a few points here, a few points there. He’ll be back any minute,” Madden said. “I have no idea when he’ll be back. I think they’re barely hanging on now.”
Radko Gudas, the man who knocked Crosby out of the Olympics, also recently took out Toronto’s Auston Matthews with a knee-to-knee hit.
Radko Gudas has officially been suspended the maximum 5 games (for a virtual hearing) from this hit on Auston Matthews.
Matthews was declared out for the season with a grade 3 MCL tear pic.twitter.com/39O1fXBMW7
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) March 14, 2026
Like Malkin, Gudas got a five-game suspension. Madden says that’s not enough for the Anaheim defenseman.
“He should be out of hockey. The game does not benefit one bit by having him in it. But the NHL would rather protect a guy like him than a guy like Auston Matthews. They want to try to equate toughness with skill, and this is their version of doing it,” Madden said. “It’s like a tactical victory that it’s good he put Matthews out and that he put Crosby out (during) the Olympics.”
Also, during the podcast, Madden and I discuss the NHL standings, the World Baseball Classic, Steelers free agency, and more.