Penguins look to add Crosby, Malkin to penalty-kill mix

Jordan Staal scored seven short-handed goals as a rookie in 2006-07. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin have seven, too.tmpplchld Combined.tmpplchld Staal needed 81 games. Crosby and Malkin have played in a total of 1,214.tmpplchld Staal got so many goals while the Penguins were down a man because he was big and powerful and fearless. And it didn’t hurt that he logged just less than 246 minutes of short-handed work that season.tmpplchld That might be more than Crosby and Malkin, together, have spent killing penalties in their NHL careers.tmpplchld Crosby played an average of 22 seconds per game while the Penguins were down a man in 2014-15; Malkin averaged all of five seconds.tmpplchld Those numbers figure to rise significantly in 2015-16, because assistant coach Gary Agnew wants to have Crosby and Malkin in his six- or seven-man penalty-killing rotation.tmpplchld “We’d like to get them involved,” Agnew said. “You don’t want to get them into a situation _ and I think it happened last year, a couple of times _ where we’d get three penalties in a period, and your top-end guys are just sitting there, waiting. They’re not in the game.”tmpplchld Crosby, who has three short-handed goals in 627 games, and Malkin, who has four in 587, are among what Agnew estimates as the “15 to 18” forwards the Penguins have deployed while short-handed this preseason. Both seemed to welcome the work, and performed it effectively.tmpplchld Agnew listed Matt Cullen, Pascal Dupuis and Nick Bonino as other forwards he expects will be regulars on the penalty-killing unit and said he likes what he has seen of Sergei Plotnikov in that role. Crosby and Malkin are the most intriguing additions to the mix, though.tmpplchld Both could disrupt a power play with their mere presence because they possess a quick-strike capability that can turn a mishandled puck into a short-handed goal in a matter of seconds.tmpplchld “If I’m a defenseman in this league and I have a bobbled puck and I know Crosby or Malkin or those guys are out there, I’m panicking or I’m getting a little nervous about it,” Agnew said.tmpplchld The obvious downside to having skilled forwards kill penalties is the risk of injury. Guys who handle those duties routinely are obliged to sacrifice their bodies to stop pucks launched toward their net.tmpplchld Losing Crosby or Malkin for an extended period while, say, a fractured foot heals would be a major blow, but Agnew believes the benefits offset the risks.tmpplchld “You’re expecting guys to block shots, and that becomes an issue if you’re going to use any of your top-six forwards in that role,” he said. “The (New York) Rangers use (Rick) Nash. Lots of those top guys do kill.tmpplchld “You want them fresh for that five-on-five and the power play, but penalty-kills can be a critical turning point in a game.”tmpplchld Especially if you can score a goal in the process.tmpplchld tmpplchld ___tmpplchld (c)2015 Pittsburgh Post-Gazettetmpplchld Visit the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at www.post-gazette.comtmpplchld Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.tmpplchld