Written by David Pollak at New York Times.com
Evgeni Malkin rediscovered his scoring touch, and the Pittsburgh Penguins are one victory away from winning their second Stanley Cup championship in eight years.
The Penguins defeated the San Jose Sharks, 3-1, on Monday night to take a three-games-to-one lead in the best-of-seven finals, a series in which the Penguins have never trailed in regulation. The victory gave Pittsburgh a split in the two games played in San Jose, which reached the Cup finals for the first time in the franchise’s 24-year history. The series could end as early as Game 5 on Thursday night in Pittsburgh.
“You’ve just got to understand that it’s going to take our best and we’re going to see their absolute best,” Sidney Crosby said of the possibility of clinching the title in Game 5. “In saying that, you can’t get caught looking ahead of things. We’ve had a great approach all playoff long — all season long — in making sure we’re staying in the moment here.”
Malkin had an assist on Pittsburgh’s first goal, by defenseman Ian Cole, and scored to stake Pittsburgh to a 2-0 lead in the second period. The fourth-line forward Eric Fehr closed out the scoring late in the third. Melker Karlsson was the only Shark to score against the rookie goaltender Matthew Murray, who made 23 saves.
Malkin, the veteran Russian forward who had 15 points in 17 games over the first three rounds of the playoffs, had been held without a point in the first three games of the series. Still, Pittsburgh Coach Mike Sullivan remained confident that Malkin would be a factor in the series.
“I thought he was really good, not only because he got on the scoresheet,” Sullivan said after Monday’s win. “Obviously, that’s great for him and it’s great for us. But I thought his overall game was really good. He played at both ends of the rink and when he plays that way, he’s so hard to defend. It seems like the puck follows him around.”
The only time the Sharks have held a lead in the series was when the rookie forward Joonas Donskoi scored at 12 minutes 18 seconds of overtime on Saturday night.
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