Angry Geno is typically the best version of Geno. Think the slapshot breakaway goal against the Flyers all those years ago.

Dubas might have been trying to unlock this version of Geno when he stalled, maybe balked, contract extension talks. What Dubas may have forgot to factor in is that Angry Geno is also prone to doing incredibly stupid things with his stick. He did one of those incredibly stupid things Thursday against the Buffalo Sabres. Early in the second period Rasmus Dahlin was slashing, cross-checking, and bullying Geno from the slot down to the goal-line. The refs for some inexplicable reason, let the malfeasance from Dahlin go without calling a penalty. Malkin ultimately retaliated by giving the old 2 hand swipe across the neck which resulted in a 5-minute major and game misconduct.

This was ultimately the deciding factor in the game against the Sabres. Buffalo would score the game winning goal on the ensuing power-play, and despite a Penguins push they couldn’t garner offense without both of their aging superstars. Before we get into the ramifications of the Geno play, let’s discuss how atrocious the refs were last night. The game winning goal I just mentioned shouldn’t have counted. It was so painfully obvious that it was goaltender interference that it forced Dubas to give a 4.5 minute answer at his post deadline availability.

Inexcusable for the refs to award this as a good goal. They have no idea what goaltender interference is and is not. They may also just be picking on a rookie head coach, I don’t know but it is complete bush league. The goal counted and it derailed the Penguins emotionally for enough time to see the Sabres go up 4-1, effectively slamming the door shut on any comeback win. Outside, of that call they were just plain awful. Wotherspoon got boarded and the player guilty was only assessed a minor penalty. Several other missed calls, tic-tac calls, and so on. Just a complete garbage showing from the stripes. Still, the Penguins need to play through it better than they did.

Onto Malkin… What a disastrous time to make such a decision. Malkin had been disciplined by the league three other times, all for stick infractions to the head. He got lucky to only receive five games for his actions against Buffalo. Crosby is already out, and despite skating at practice yesterday, you shouldn’t expect to see him until Tuesday at the earliest. Now the team will be without their two top forwards for a set of extremely important back to back games. The Blue Jackets also refuse to lose and are only three points back of the Penguins. It is entirely conceivable that come the end of next week the Penguins will be out of a playoff spot. If that happens to be the case, it will be Malkin’s fault. He was relied upon, as usual, to elevate for his team in Crosby’s absence but he might have been the one to sink their ship. Not only could this have significant ramifications on the Penguins season, but it could also put a nail Malkin’s coffin as it pertains to his Penguins career. If Dubas was already on the fence about resigning him, this could absolutely reaffirm his position. The fans will likely forgive Geno, even if they miss the playoffs, but it might make the blowback of not signing him more muted than it would have been at 7pm on Thursday.

Dubas admitted that what Geno did momentarily effected his emotions almost causing seismic shakeups for the team on deadline day. Luckily, he came back to his senses and did very little on deadline day, as did most teams. Dubas made one trade, acquiring Elmer Soderblom for a 2026 3rd round pick. Elmer is a gigantic kid, 6 foot 8 inches tall, but he is certainly a reclamation project. Soderblom will likely play some games in Wilkes and we may not even see him suit up for the Penguins this season. That’s completely okay, you can afford to do that whenever you have acquired the amount of picks that Dubas has acquired. Other than that, I think Dubas made the right decision on deadline day. He essentially kept a team that has shown it’s a top tier team, when healthy, together. He could have sold the Mantha’s of the world but it would have hurt the team, and the locker-room, or he could have bought someone big which would’ve really hurt the future. The most prudent thing to do was to basically stay pat, hope Sid comes back, and push to make the playoffs.

Without being hyperbolic the Penguins absolutely need to get 3 points this weekend to make a push for the playoffs. First up will be those absolute scumbags from Philadelphia. Typically, Crosby can be relied on to put his superman cape on to give his team at least two points against the bums in orange. Unfortunately, Clark Kent won’t be getting into a phonebooth today. Crosby’s teammates have all seen his will to beat the breaks off the Flyers, it’s time for them to do the heavy lifting. Also, we’re the Penguins and they’re the Flyers the standings don’t matter for this matchup Pittsburgh wins these games.

I will love what Evgeni Malkin has done for this franchise until the day I die. Coming into this season, I didn’t expect him and Sid to ever see a playoff game together again. His selfishness may make my expectations come true and that’s a damn shame. Maybe Ville Koivunen will play inspired hockey in Malkin’s absence and all will be fine.