Malkin, Kapanen a dynamic combination

When Jim Rutherford gave up a relative fortune, including a No. 1 draft choice, to acquire Kasperi Kapanen in a trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs in August, he envisioned Kapanen using his extraordinary speed to make magic on a line with Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin. Crosby got the first chance with Kapanen, but things didn’t go well. Kapanen was demoted in the first period of a game against the New York Islanders Feb. 20 and benched in the third period. Malkin got his turn with Kapanen when Mike Sullivan elected to play Bryan Rust on Crosby’s line. It’s hard to tell who is more thrilled and playing better, Malkin or Kapanen. Magic between the two? Pure magic. Kapanen was huge in the 5-1 win against the New York Rangers Sunday night with a goal and two assists.

Malkin was a force all over the ice and scored a goal for the second consecutive game.

The only downer for the Malkin line was an injury to Jared McCann late in the first period. McCann had fit right in with three goals in

the past five games.

“Hopefully, we’ll get some positive news,” Sullivan said of McCann’s injury. “Jared is playing really well for us. He brings a lot of speed, the ability to finish. He’s got good offensive instincts. I think he’s really found his game here. It’s discouraging from all of our standpoints. Certainly, we feel for him.”

Malkin and Kapanen kept flying with Evan Rodrigues on their left wing.

Kapanen easily could have had a hat trick against the Rangers. He got his goal on a breakaway late in the first period when the Penguins scored three times in 61 seconds to take a 3-1 lead. His goal was the second of the three and was the game-winner.

Kapanen was on his way to scoring another breakaway goal in the third period when winger Julien Gauthier made a terrific play to dive and knock the puck off his stick. Moments later, Kapanen had another great scoring chance after a pass from Malkin but was robbed by goaltender Kevin Kinkaid.

Kapanen returned the favor to Malkin by setting him up later in the third period with a beautiful pass on a 2-on-1. This time, Kinkaid couldn’t make the save. Malkin tapped the puck into the open net for a 4-1 lead.

Sullivan loved what he saw from Kapanen and Malkin.

“I think they’ve established some pretty good chemistry. Geno is a really dangerous player off the rush. He sees the ice so well and he commands so much attention with Kappy’s speed. Kappy can open up the ice for him and Geno can get the puck to Kappy with the speed that he has. We really liked it when we put them together. They’ve had some good games. We’re certainly encouraged by that.”

Give Kapanen credit for responding in a positive way, not just to the benching by Sullivan against the Islanders, but to what I’m guessing was a one-way chat with Sullivan after that game. He didn’t pout or feel sorry for himself. He took ownership of his game.

“Everybody sees how I played. It wasn’t good enough,” Kapanen said after that meeting with Sullivan.

That’s called manning up. Kapanen scored the winning goal in overtime against the Washington Capitals in the Penguins’ next game. His big night against the Rangers gave him four goals and five assists in his past eight games. He had two goals in the 5-2 win against the Philadelphia Flyers last Tuesday night.

“I think a lot of the credit goes out to the guys,” Kapanen said. “They’re giving me a chance to make plays and score goals …

“Obviously, it was a nice little sit-down with Mike to talk about certain areas I can help the team. It’s not always about offense. It’s taking care of business down low in our own zone. That translates to the rest of my game.

“Everybody’s confident. Geno was great out there. He’s making a lot of plays. He looks like the Geno who is dangerous every night.”

Kapanen is a big reason for that.

I’m thinking Malkin wants to keep him for a while.