Pittsburgh Penguins alternate captain Evgeni Malkin was named the NHL’s Third Star for the opening week of the 2023-24 regular season, it was announced today.
Malkin opened the season with six points (2G-4A) in his first three games, and is currently tied as the NHL’s leading scorer. In the Penguins’ second game of the season on October 13 in Washington, Malkin (1G-3A) opened the scoring and factored in on each of Pittsburgh’s four goals to record his first four-point game since January 10, 2023. Malkin’s 29 career four-point games and 36 three-assist games are both the fourth most among all active players.
With a goal and assist, Malkin recorded another multi-point game the next night at home against Calgary on October 14, as Pittsburgh swept their first set of back-to-back games of the season. Malkin’s goal that night marked his 473rd career marker, tying him with Alexander Mogilny for the third-most goals by a Russian-born player in NHL history. Only Alex Ovechkin (822) and Sergei Fedorov (483) have more goals among Russians.
This season marks Malkin’s 18th with the Penguins, surpassing Mario Lemieux (17) for the second-most seasons played with the team in franchise history (Sidney Crosby, 19; Kris Letang, 18). Pittsburgh’s long-standing core of Malkin and teammates Crosby and Letang are skating in their 18th season together, marking the longest-tenured trio of teammates in major North American professional sports history.
