Where oh where have the "you can't say Malkin is a great player, wait until he plays a game in the NHL" posts gone?
Oh well, at least we have some bitter New Jersey fans to remind us of the fond times when people constantly discredited Malkin's talent for very silly reasons.
Sorry if we are skeptical of certain posters who pimp everyone with a Russian surname to epic proportions. BTW, I only count one NJ fan commenting on this thread.
It was an amazing move, Lukowich tried to hit him but Malkin just hit the breaks and jumped to the inside, at first I thought he chipped the puck by him but on the replay he clearly stickhandled it to the inside while leaping. White, Brodeur, and everyone in the building probably thought he was going to take it to the forehand and just shoot it but Malkin had other ideas. It was like watching Jussi Jokinen's shootout move at full speed and in the game. Replace Lukowich or White with Martin or Rafalski (the two victimized defenseman's partners) and they would probably go for a more positional play or stick check than try to body him off the puck but that's all hypothetical and worthless, it takes two, in this case three, to tango.
These are going to be fun times for Malkin highlights as none of the NHL defensemen really know how to play him yet. He's deceptively strong on the puck, like near the top of the league strong on the puck, and some veterans are going to get schooled by making the mistake of thinking this rookie doesn't know how to play in the NHL all that well yet.
Best individual effort goal I've seen in a while. (Ovechkin's last year was a perfect storm really, this was just a display of sick sick skill)