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PITTSBURGH — Sitting in a quiet dressing room on Tuesday night after another blown lead turned into another crippling loss in a season increasingly filled with them, Evgeni Malkin spoke quietly.

The Pittsburgh Penguins star has long served as the franchise’s emotional core, the Russian’s passion serving as the yin to longtime captain Sidney Crosby‘s more reserved yang.

Malkin is well aware his historic partnership with Crosby and Kris Letang is nearing an end. The final chapter is not going the way the longest-tenured trio of teammates in major North American sports planned.

So after two periods of dominance against Seattle morphed into a 4-2 defeat to cap a maddening homestand in which the Penguins won just once in five tries — the lone victory against Connor McDavid and Edmonton — Malkin shook his head and vented.

“It’s not good enough,” he said. “I hope we look in the mirror, tonight and tomorrow and start playing better.”

It’s been a difficult week, all around, for Malkin. Earlier in the day, news that his home had been burglarized was confirmed by the team. The Penguins added, in a statement to WPXI-TV on Tuesday night, that they’re working with local authorities and team security.

The All-Star break is a few weeks away, but time already feels like it’s starting to run out. The Penguins begin a seven-game, 12-day road trip on Friday in Buffalo on the fringe of the playoff chase in the underwhelming Eastern Conference, the prospect of missing out on the postseason for a third straight year becoming all the more real with every defensive breakdown, every soft goal, every missed opportunity.

“We see standings,” said Malkin, who had an assist in his return from a four-game absence due to an upper-body injury. “I think we understand we miss playoffs and it’s half-season gone. We understand everything. (If) we want to play playoffs, we need to play so much better, every zone, every moment.”

Yet that kind of consistency has been elusive for most of the season save for a promising stretch between Thanksgiving and Christmas in which Pittsburgh clawed back into contention following a nightmarish opening six weeks.

The optimism, however, has dimmed since the holiday break. Pittsburgh is just 2-5-3 over its last 10 to fall back under .500 after letting Seattle’s Jamie Oleksiak and Eeli Tolvanen score 49 seconds apart in the third period to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead.

Both goals highlighted the Penguins’ erratic play in the defensive end. Oleksiak came onto the ice on a line change, took the puck at the top of the Pittsburgh zone and skated unchallenged down the slot before beating Tristan Jarry.

Moments later, Tolvanen stood all alone in front of the net to tap in a centering pass from Shane White to put the Kraken in front.

“It’s really frustrating,” defenseman Marcus Pettersson said. “We’re giving away points. We have nobody to blame but ourselves.”

It’s not that the Penguins can’t defend. They held Tampa Bay to two shots in the first period on Sunday. They did the same to the Kraken just over 48 hours later. Both times, the opponents skated off with the win after breakdowns at critical times.

“If I had the answer, I’d fix it,” said Mike Sullivan, the NHL’s second-longest tenured coach. “We simply have to do a better job (in our end) and that falls on me.”

Malkin isn’t sure he agrees. The Penguins were a playoff fixture during his first 16 seasons in the league and he has raised the Stanley Cup three times. During that era, a certain standard was set. Pittsburgh hasn’t lived up to it for quite a while.

“I think everybody understands what’s going on,” he said. “We have nice organization. We have great history.”

All NHL dynasties end, though general manager Kyle Dubas said before the season began that he didn’t think the Penguins needed to strip the franchise down “to the studs” to rebuild. He has injected some much-needed youth onto the roster, including trading for Philip Tomasino, who scored his fifth goal on Tuesday.

Yet every step forward has been met with a step back. Goaltenders Jarry and Alex Nedeljkovic have shown a propensity to give up early goals. They’ve allowed opponents to score on their first shot nine times in 46 games, forcing Pittsburgh to play catchup too frequently.

While Crosby in particular remains a marvel — he’s on pace to average a point a game for what would be a record 20th straight season — the Penguins don’t have the firepower that once came so easily. Their margin for error is smaller and they remain one of the league’s oldest teams.

Spending the next two weeks crisscrossing North America could give them a chance to steal away and hit the reset button. Or it could drop them into a hole so deep they could be essentially out of it by Groundhog Day. It could go either way. No one knows that more than Malkin.

“We need to play so much harder,” Malkin said.

And do it quickly.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Longtime Islanders forward Clutterbuck retires

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Longtime Islanders forward Clutterbuck retires

Longtime New York Islanders forward Cal Clutterbuck announced his retirement from the NHL on Wednesday after 17 seasons.

Clutterbuck, 37, spent his last 11 seasons with the Islanders before sitting out the 2024-25 season.

“Hockey gave me everything — a purpose, a brotherhood, and a lifetime of memories,” Clutterbuck wrote on Instagram. “To (longtime linemates) Matt (Martin) and Casey (Cizikas) — it was an honor to go to war with you night in and night out. What we built together means more than words can say. And to the Islanders faithful — your passion, loyalty, and love made Long Island home. Thank you all. On to the next chapter.”

Clutterbuck, who is the NHL’s all-time hits leader with 4,029, recorded 293 points (143 goals, 150 assists) and 698 penalty minutes in 1,064 career games with the Minnesota Wild and Islanders.

The Ontario native was selected by the Wild in the third round of the 2006 NHL Draft.

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Bruins CEO vows return to playoffs next season

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Bruins CEO vows return to playoffs next season

Boston Bruins CEO Charlie Jacobs vowed that his team would return to the playoffs next season despite finishing in last place and trading away several players at the deadline.

“We’ve spoken at great length about this: The team that we currently have, [if] healthy and with the additions we intend to make this summer, I anticipate that we’ll have a playoff team and play meaningful hockey at this time of year in 2026,” he said.

The Bruins were last in the Atlantic Division (76 points) with their lowest standings points percentage (.463) in 18 seasons. The team fired head coach Jim Montgomery 20 games into the season and traded popular veteran players such as captain Brad Marchand, center Charlie Coyle and defenseman Brandon Carlo at the deadline.

“We fell way short and it’s disappointing for us,” team president Cam Neely said. “It’s disappointing for our fan base. They deserve better. They’ve supported us for a hundred-plus years. This gives us an opportunity to regroup a little bit, reset and build back better.”

GM Don Sweeney laid out a plan for that quick build back to contention. The first target is to add more offense, specifically on the wings.

“The scoring potential of our group needs to be increased and addressed this summer,” said Sweeney, whose team was 28th in the NHL in goals per game despite a 43-goal campaign from star David Pastrnak.

Sweeney said he wants the Bruins to get back to their core identity of being a strong defensive team in front of effective goaltending. Both Jeremy Swayman, in the first year of an eight-year, $66 million contract extension, and Joonas Korpisalo were in the negatives for goals saved above expected this season.

“Our goaltenders previously have been really, really good. This year, they weren’t as good. That’s fact. And our team in front of them didn’t defend with the same level of conviction,” he said.

Then there’s the aspect the Bruins hope turns around for next season: health. Key defensemen Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm both missed significant time last season.

To orchestrate all of this, Sweeney and Neely have to decide on the next head coach of the Bruins. Joe Sacco went 25-30-7 as an interim coach. Sweeney said Sacco has been informed that there will be a coaching search and that he’ll be a finalist for the job. The coaching search process is underway for Boston.

Sacco led the Avalanche to a 130-134-40 record from 2009-2014 and was a finalist for coach of the year in his first season. He spent 10 years as a Bruins assistant before being promoted for the rest of the season when Jim Montgomery was fired.

Sweeney is facing some uncertainty himself. He has been the Bruins’ general manager since May 2015, but is entering the last year of his contract. Neely said he’s debating whether or not to extend Sweeney.

“I’m still contemplating what the best course of action is. I really feel like Don has done a good job here, for the most part,” Neely said.

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Avs’ Landeskog, out 3 years, could return Game 3

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Avs' Landeskog, out 3 years, could return Game 3

DENVER — Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog could play in his first NHL game in nearly three years on Wednesday night against the Dallas Stars.

Landeskog was the first player to take the ice at morning practice ahead of Game 3. He went through a series of shooting drills before his teammates joined him. Should Landeskog play, it would be his first NHL appearance since June 26, 2022, when he and the Avalanche beat Tampa Bay to capture the Stanley Cup. He has been sidelined because of a chronically injured right knee.

“We’ll see,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said about the possibility of Landeskog suiting up. Earlier in the day on Altitude Sports Radio — the station for the Avalanche — Bednar said, “There’s a good chance that he’s going to play tonight.”

Asked what criteria he would use in making a determination, Bednar simply responded: “Gut feeling.”

Colorado’s first-round series with Dallas is tied at 1-1.

Landeskog’s presence on the ice could provide a big boost not only for his teammates but also for the capacity crowd. His No. 92 sweater is a frequent sight around the arena.

“Everyone is rooting for him. It’s a great comeback story,” Bednar said after morning skate. “I trust in Gabe’s preparation, and what I’m seeing with my own eyes that he’s getting close and ready to play. I think he feels really good about where he’s at.

“Adding him back into our locker room, he’s almost an extension of the coaching staff, but he’s still one of the guys and the guy that everyone looks up to. You can’t get enough of that this time of the year.”

Landeskog’s injury goes back to the 2020 “bubble” season when he was accidentally sliced above the knee by the skate of teammate Cale Makar in a playoff game against Dallas. Landeskog eventually underwent a cartilage transplant procedure on May 10, 2023, and has been on long-term injured reserve.

He was activated Monday before Game 2 in Dallas and skated in pregame warmups but didn’t play.

Stars forward Matt Duchene was teammates with Landeskog and they remain good friends.

“We’ve been rooting for him to come back,” said Duchene, who was the third overall pick by Colorado in 2009. “Obviously, it makes our job harder having a guy like that out there, but on the friends side, the human side and the fellow athlete side, I think everyone’s happy to see the progress he’s made. … I’m just really happy that he’s gotten to this point.”

The 32-year-old Landeskog recently went through a two-game conditioning stint with the American Hockey League’s Colorado Eagles. He has practiced with the Avalanche leading up to their opener in the NHL playoffs.

“He’s looking good so we’ll see where things go,” Makar said. “For him, I know it’s going to be a huge night when he does play. It’s going to be really exciting for us to have him back in the room and have the captain back.”

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