Evgeni Malkin destroys Rangers' defense, scores video-game goal (Video)
There are few things in hockey more terrifying than Evgeni Malkin coming at you at full-speed. The man is a tail away from being an actual horse, all long face, stupidly powerful legs, and thick, terrifying torso.
On Friday night in Game 5 between the New York Rangers and the Pittsburgh Penguins, Malkin once again looked more beast than man on this goal, which looks like something out of an EA game, where you've created a giant player and given him 99 toughness, 99 speed, and 99 shot accuracy:
It's like when you switch to hard mode and suddenly everybody is super fast and unhittable. Infuriating.
When Malkin enters the Rangers' zone, this is a 1-on-4. He has linemates -- heck, Sidney Crosby is at the bottom of the zone -- but Malkin decides to go it alone. Minimal effort later, he's scored.
What's more, these aren't a couple of scrubs he walks right through. That's Dan Girardi, defensive defenseman extraordinnaire, and Marc Staal, who is also quite good. These two can do nothing to stop Malkin here. Girardi hits him. Malkin basically absorbs the force of the blow and gets stronger. He barely breaks his stride.
Way the replay, from the reverse angle, to get a sense of what Girardi and Staal saw. That's just scary.
Henrik Lundqvist does everything he can here, stopping the initial shot, but Malkin is more than just a tank. He's also a sniper, and he corrals the rebound, spins, and tucks the puck home from an impossible angle.
Unfortunately for the Penguins, this clip also sums up their play through two periods. Malkin looks alone out there. At the time of this writing, they trail 4-1.
