PITTSBURGH (AP) Evgeni Malkin made the proclamation more than two months ago http://www.sanjosesharksteamshop.com/authentic-logan-couture-jersey , minutes after the Pittsburgh Penguins put together three borderline spectacular periods against San Jose on Jan. 30 to pick up their ninth win in 12 games.”It’s like we’re back to playoffs for sure,” Malkin said.It was vintage Malkin, who for over a decade has played the blunt dressing room yin to Sidney Crosby’s ever polite yang.While predicting a playoff spot for the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions isn’t exactly risky, Malkin’s promise came as the Penguins were coming out of a three-month funk in which they flip-flopped between brilliant and blah.Reminded of his guarantee on Tuesday – with a 12th straight postseason berth secured – Malkin just smiled. Yeah, maybe he was sending a message to the rest of the guys in the room that day that the malaise needed to go.”Like we talk a lot about this year, like everyone’s `Wait, like what’s going on?”’ Malkin said. ”We lost couple good players but we’re still great.”They just didn’t always play like it during the first half of the season. While doing his best to avoid using the word ”hangover,” Crosby admitted the Penguins may have suffered from a bit of selective amnesia last fall when they opened the season trying to become the first franchise in 35 years to win three straight titles.”When you play a couple seasons of important games like that, you come back and you might not have that urgency or you only remember May and June when everything is great and your team is firing on all cylinders but you don’t necessarily remember all the little things that happen,” Crosby said.The two-time MVP has been around long enough to understand that each year has its own set of unique challenges. The group that basically ran in place from October through December sort of forgot how to deal with it.”You have to go through that stuff over the course of the year and sometimes it’s not as fresh in your mind as winning is,” he said. ”So I think it took us awhile to go through that.”Things like trying to find a new identity after the departures of Chris Kunitz, Marc-Andre Fleury , Nick Bonino, Trevor Daley and Matt Cullen, all vital pieces of Pittsburgh’s 2016 and 2017 titles. Things like defenseman Justin Schultz and forwards Patric Hornqvist and Bryan Rust all missing significant time with injuries, reminders that – as coach Mike Sullivan likes to put it – the Penguins play a ”belligerent sport.”Sullivan knew adversity was coming when the season started. And while he didn’t panic he kept reminding his players that nothing is inevitable, not even a playoff berth for a team with the longest active streak in the NHL. There was no fiery speech telling them to get it together because none was required.”There weren’t really any words said,” Rust said. ”Everybody knew. It’s one of those things. You take a look at the standings. You take a look at how we lost a few of those games early in the year and you just, everybody kind of looked in the mirror a little bit and everybody picked up their own game.”Though the Penguins insist there was no one moment in which they snapped to, Hornqvist pointed to a 4-0 road win against the New York Islanders on Jan. 5 as game when the light started to come on.The visit to Brooklyn came just 24 hours after a humbling 4-0 home loss to Carolina. Weather issues forced the team to scramble just to get to the arena. They left with two points and a little bit of swagger.”Since then I think we’ve been playing good hockey and been improving every game and that’s the key to the season,” Hornqvist said.Having Malkin and Crosby doing Malkin and Crosby things certainly helps.Malkin is in the running for his second Hart Trophy as league MVP, his 95 points the most on the team, most of them coming during Pittsburgh’s post-New Year’s Day surge, one in which the Penguins became just the fourth defending champion since 1944 to reach the postseason after being on the outside looking in at the season’s midway point.When Malkin cooled, Crosby put together a five-game goal scoring streak, including a remarkable double-tap score against Montreal’s Carey Price and an overtime winner against New Jersey last Thursday in which he smacked his own rebound out of midair and by Devils goaltender Keith Kinkaid in overtime.A win over the Canadiens last Saturday night turned Malkin’s January guarantee into a reality. Though a loss to Washington on Sunday allowed the Capitals to wrap up a third consecutive Metropolitan Division title, the Penguins aren’t particularly concerned. All three Cup parades during the Malkin-Crosby era have followed regular seasons in which the Penguins finished second in their division.All that matters to Malkin is that Pittsburgh is in the conversation. Just as the Penguins have always been since he arrived in 2007.”I will always believe my team,” Malkin said. ”I always believe this group. I see these guys every day and we’re still hungry.”— BOSTON (AP) David Pastrnak had a hat trick and three assists to help Boston blow out the Toronto Maple Leafs for the second straight game, leading the Bruins to a 7-3 victory Saturday night and a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference playoff series.Pastrnak shattered his previous career high of four points, scoring his third goal with 1:36 left to bring two trash cans full of caps and winter hats fluttering down to the ice. Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron each had four assists, and Torey Krug had three.Tuukka Rask stopped 30 shots for Boston, and David Krejci, Rick Nash, Jake DeBrusk and Kevan Miller also scored.Two nights after Frederik Andersen allowed five goals in the series opener Martin Jones Jersey , he gave up three more on five shots in the first 12:13 before he was replaced by backup Curtis McElhinney. The Bruins added another power-play goal – their second of the night and fifth of the series – to make it 4-0 after one.Mitch Marner, Tyler Bozak and James Van Riemsdyk scored for the Maple Leafs, who never got closer than three goals down after that. McElhinney stopped 19 of the 23 shots he faced.The series moves to Toronto for Games 3 and 4 on Monday and Thursday. Game 5 would be back in Boston on Saturday, if necessary.PREDATORS 5, AVALANCHE 4NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Ryan Hartman’s empty-net goal with 1:09 left wound up the winner as Nashville held off Colorado for a 2-0 lead in the first-round Western Conference series.After Hartman gave the Predators a 5-3 lead, Alexander Kerfoot pulled Colorado to 5-4 with 35.8 seconds left. But the Avalanche couldn’t get another puck past goalie Pekka Rinne.The Presidents’ Trophy winners started slowly, giving up a goal on Colorado’s first shot for a second straight game. Yet the Predators rallied again to take their first 2-0 lead when starting a best-of-seven series in their own building.Kevin Fiala had a goal and an assist, and Viktor Arvidsson, Ryan Johansen and Austin Watson scored a goal apiece. P.K. Subban and Mattias Ekholm each had two assists for Nashville, which has won 12 straight over the Avalanche. Rinne made 26 saves. Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and an assist, and Gabriel Bourque and Gabriel Landeskog each added a goal for Colorado.Game 3 is Monday night in Denver.LIGHTNING 5, DEVILS 3TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Alex Killorn scored twice during a four-goal second period, helping Tampa Bay beat New Jersey for a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference series.The Lightning scored three times in a 2:47 span in the second period, and the reeling Devils pulled goalie Keith Kinkaid after Killorn’s third goal in two games made it 5-1 with 6:48 remaining in the period. Kinkaid, whose stellar play since January helped New Jersey finish strong and claim its first playoff berth since 2012, yielded five goals on 15 shots.Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point and Tyler Johnson also scored for Tampa Bay, which is up 2-0 in the series after going 0-2-1 against the Devils during the regular season.Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 41 shots, limiting the Devils to rookie Nico Hischier’s unassisted goal in the opening period, Sami Vatanen’s sixth career playoff goal late in the second, Blake Coleman’s third-period tally that trimmed Tampa Bay’s lead to 5-3 with eight minutes left.Game 3 is Monday night in Newark, New Jersey.SHARKS 3, DUCKS 2ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) – Logan Couture had a goal and an assist, Martin Jones made 28 saves and San Jose excelled on the road again, beating Anaheim to take a 2-0 lead in their first-round playoff series.Marcus Sorensen and Tomas Hertl also scored for the Sharks, who gave another disciplined, organized performance while moving halfway to their first playoff series victory since their Stanley Cup Final run in 2016. The Sharks also are halfway to their first playoff series victory over Anaheim, their longtime downstate rivals.Hampus Lindholm had a goal and an assist for the Ducks, who are leaving Honda Center with an 0-2 series deficit for the third time in their last five playoff series.Jakob Silfverberg scored in the opening minute and John Gibson stopped 32 shots as Anaheim dropped to 3-6 in its last nine home playoff games overall.Game 3 is Monday night in San Jose.
