He was again recognized as the best player of the championship

NHL

Evgeni Malkin (left) almost caught up with teammate Sidney Crosby in the list of top NHL scorers
Photo: Reuters

The hero of the next week of the NHL regular season was once again Evgeni Malkin. The Russian forward of the Pittsburgh Penguins continues to terrorize opponents and bring his team points that allow it to remain among the leaders of the Eastern Conference.

Receiving the title of best hockey player of the week in the NHL championship is a rather rare achievement. Evgeni Malkin just added it to his asset list. And the league, apparently, did not have any special options - to celebrate him again or, perhaps, to choose someone else for a change -: of course, Malkin.

By winter he really got into crazy shape. Such a form that cannot but warm the souls of Russian fans: if Malkin maintains it for another two months, then at the Sochi Olympics its hosts on the ice will have not just a trump card, but an ace of trumps, covering virtually any card. In the meantime, the forward's form warms the souls of the happy Pittsburgh fans.

Evgeni Malkin was fantastically productive last week. In four games - against the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers - he scored nine points with three goals and six assists. In the latter, with Florida (it was ruthlessly defeated - 5:1), Malkin took part in four of Pittsburgh's five scoring combinations: he completed one with an accurate throw, and acted as an assistant in three.

As a result, there are now two Penguins forwards at the top of the scoring charts. And the leader of the Canadian team, Sidney Crosby, is already just one point ahead of the leader of the Russian team, Evgeni Malkin. “I would like to see both of them there at the end of the season,” Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma commented on this situation.

However, it must be assumed that more than the personal indicators of the two superstars who have accelerated greatly this season, Bylsma is inspired by the fact that they are quite correlated with the club’s results. These results at the junction of autumn and winter are wonderful. Let's say that in four matches last week, marked by Malkin's outstanding exploits, Pittsburgh suffered its only defeat - to Boston, also a favorite, in overtime.

The Penguins' tournament position, of course, looks very strong. He's sitting just behind Boston at the top of the East table and has a pretty decent seven-point lead over his closest Metropolitan Division rival, the Washington Capitals.

The Washingtonians, led by Alexander Ovechkin, who together with Malkin will most likely be the striking force of the Russian Olympic team, are going the distance of the regular season much more strained than their neighbor. But in their two most recent matches - after four misfires that made their fans wary - they succeeded. True, the Capitals defeated both the Montreal Canadiens and the New York Islanders not in regular time, but in the shootout and overtime. Moreover, it was Ovechkin who scored the decisive goal against the Islanders. It was his 21st in the championship, and the striker’s name is on the first line in the list of main snipers. On the first line in the list of main assistants is, naturally, Malkin’s name.

Meanwhile, the eastern giants are still far from the western ones. The transition from autumn to winter, for example, was a great success for the San Jose Sharks. This club had a streak of five victories. He celebrated the weekend with a win against the Anaheim Ducks, knocking them out of first place in the division.

The Chicago Blackhawks have an even more impressive streak: it has already stretched to six games. The current Stanley Cup winner hints too transparently that he would not mind repeating the celebration. In any case, a more stable, more balanced team in the league at the moment cannot be found. True, the history of the NHL shows: not only in early December, but in April, when the regular season is coming to an end, one cannot draw conclusions about whether or not the club is ready to storm the Stanley Cup. But, I must say, in the previous season, the same “Chicago” marched to its triumph in the most direct way of all possible - it excelled in the regular season, and then in all the play-off series.

In general, Chicago is back on top in the regular season. But San Jose, I must say, is hot on his heels. The distance between the Chicagoans and Californians is three points, but the Sharks have two games in hand.

Alexey Dospehov

Scorers table

IGPO

1. Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh)	28	13	23	36
2. Evgeni Malkin (Pittsburgh)	28	7	28	35
3. Alexander Steen (St. Louis)	26	20	eleven	31
4. Ryan Getzlaf (Anaheim)	26	13	18	31
5. Patrick Kane (Chicago)	28	16	14	thirty
6. John Tavares (New York Islanders)	27	eleven	19	thirty
7. Henrik Zetterberg (Detroit)	28	eleven	19	thirty
8. Alexander Ovechkin (Washington)	25	21	8	29
9. Corey Perry (Anaheim)	29	15	14	29
10. Joe Thornton (San Jose)	26	4	25	29...
30. Pavel Datsyuk (Detroit)	24	12	eleven	23

NHL Regular Championship

"New York Rangers" - "Winnipeg" 2:5. “Montreal” – “New Jersey” 3:2 ( Markov, 0+1; Emelin, 0+1 - Volchenkov, 0+1). "Minnesota" - "Philadelphia" 2:0. “Los Angeles” – “St. Louis” 3:2 ( Tarasenko (“St. Louis”), 1+1).

Tournament table

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division

IVPOPSHO

1. Boston	27	18	2	7	75:55	38
2. Montreal	28	16	3	9	76:59	35
3. Detroit	28	14	7	7	78:73	35
4. Tampa Bay	26	16	1	9	76:66	33
5. Toronto	27	14	3	10	75:73	31
6. Ottawa	27	10	4	13	78:90	24
7. Florida	27	7	5	15	59:91	19
8. Buffalo	28	6	2	20	48:85	14
Metropolitan Division
1. Pittsburgh	28	18	1	9	86:64	37
2. Washington	27	14	2	eleven	82:78	thirty
3. New York Rangers	28	14	0	14	62:71	28
4. New Jersey	28	eleven	5	12	61:67	27
5. Philadelphia	27	12	2	13	57:65	26
6. Caroline	27	10	5	12	57:78	25
7. Columbus	27	10	3	14	67:80	23
8. New York Islanders	27	8	4	15	72:93	20

Western Conference

Central Division

IVPOPSHO

1. Chicago	28	20	4	4	102:76	44
2. St. Louis	26	18	3	5	91:60	39
3. Colorado	25	19	0	6	76:52	38
4. Minnesota	29	16	5	8	70:67	37
5. Winnipeg	29	13	4	12	78:82	thirty
6. Nashville	27	13	3	eleven	62:75	29
7. Dallas	25	12	4	9	73:28	28
Pacific Division
1. San Jose	26	18	5	3	92:60	41
2. Anaheim	29	18	4	7	91:77	40
3. Los Angeles	28	17	4	7	73:60	38
4. Phoenix	26	15	4	7	85:84	34
5. Vancouver	29	14	5	10	77:77	33
6. Calgary	26	9	4	13	70:93	22
7. Edmonton	28	9	2	17	73:95	20

Evgeni Malkin repeated the week