Hit Malkin

What would the Penguins look like without Evgeni Malkin? If he had simply disappeared the day before the season opened, where would they have finished? You have to assume other players would pick up his slack a bit. He had a hand in 113 goals this season and I'd be willing to give the Pens 66% of those goals, which I think is pretty generous. Especially because I'm not sure exactly which of the scrubs on the team would have stepped it up. But if they only got 75 goals instead of the 113 that Evgeni had a hand in they would drop from 6th in the league in scoring to tied for 21st. That's the flip side to having the league's leading scorer on your team - a single player (or in this case 2) becomes exponentially more important to your offense. If he is taken out of the game (maybe just by a nagging shadow), then your chances of victory drop significantly more than if you had a balanced attack.

Malkin is a bitch. This is a guy who has Sidney Crosby fight his battles - digest that. It's no secret that he seemed disinterested during last year's series after he scored his slapshot breakaway goal. And that was because seconds before he had a little bit of his manhood snapped off by Mike Richards.

Hockey's a physical game. Scott Stevens changed the course of a playoff series many times with a clean hit - we know that all too well. The playoffs are a time when professional NHLers revert back to their days of Juniors. The big salaries and marketing campaigns fade into the shadows of the Stanley Cup. And if you manage to catch a guy with his head down you don't let up a bit, you try to end his season.

One hit could end the series. Hit Malkin.