For a while, the Penguins two franchise centers had been fortunate to hit their millennial milestones in Pittsburgh.
Sidney Crosby got his 1,000th career point on Feb. 16, 2017; Evgeni Malkin recorded his 1,000th point on March 12, 2019; and the captain played in his 1,000th game on Feb. 20, 2021 - all at PPG Paints Arena.
But as the schedule would have it, Malkin's 1,000th game was set for Sunday in Chicago against the Blackhawks at United Center. It was a tough situation to not only play that huge milestone game on the road; but for it to come following Marian Hossa's jersey retirement ceremony. But the Penguins did everything they could to make it a special occasion for Malkin.
Penguins Made Sure Malkin's Wife and Son Witnessed Milestone Game
"It was a perfect night," Malkin said.
The organization made sure that his wife Anna and their 6-year-old son Nikita would be there to surprise Evgeni, with director of team operations Jason Seidling taking care of all the arrangements. He even came up with the idea to have Nikita read the starting lineup, which the coaching staff absolutely loved. Particularly Mike Sullivan, who was ecstatic when he heard about it.
"Jason is an amazing individual, and does a terrific job behind the scenes for us to help our team function the way it does," Sullivan told broadcaster Josh Getzoff in the latest edition of the Highmark Coach's Show. "I think it's a huge gesture by our ownership and our management team to fly Geno's family into Chicago and put them up in the hotel so that they can share in such a special moment.
"To watch Nikita announce the starting lineup - and I know it's been on social media now, so a lot of people have seen it - but to be in the room and to witness it firsthand was just a special moment. It was an incredible experience to watch just the authentic response from Geno himself, and Nikita also."
After addressing the team following warmups, Sullivan told the group they had a special guest who was going to announce for them, and stepped aside to let Nikita enter the room.
The boys weredelighted, and as everyone cheered and clapped, a shy smile came across Nikita's face. Once they quieted down, he started to read. "First, in net, goaltender Casey DeSmith," Nikita began.
From there, he pronounced all of the names perfectly, most notably Jason Zucker. A lot of times, people think it rhymes with 'Smucker,' but it's actually said 'ZOOK-uhr.'
"He absolutely killed it. The only person ever to get it right the first time," Zucker said with a laugh. "I was impressed. It was amazing."
The group was also soimpressed at the poise Nikita showed with everyone's eyes on him as he went down the list.
"I can only imagine being a 6-year-old walking into a pro hockey locker room. Being able to pull that off, I thought he did a terrific job," Sullivan said.
After Nikita finished by saying, 'seventy-one, Evgeni Malkin,'" father and son shared an incredibly emotional moment. Nikita went over to his dad and held on tightly for a few moments. After Sullivan said, "let's go win a hockey game!" Nikita walked back to his mother with his lip quivering, while Evgeni sat down and wiped the tears from his eyes.
Malkin's son reads starting lineup.
"Really fun to see that for G. Nikita, he's such a cute kid," Zucker said. "Identicalto G. I thought it was an incredible moment for him to enjoy that. As parents, all you want to do is enjoy these years with your kids, to be able to cherish these years in the NHL. So for him to be able to have that on his 1,000th game was pretty cool."
Kris Letang has known Malkin from the very beginning. And while Geno is a guy who typically wears his emotions on his sleeve, Tanger had never seen that type of reaction from his longtime teammate and friend, which was really impactful.
"You could see the sheer emotion in the room from not just Geno and Nikita, but the whole team," Sullivan said. "That's what I love about this group, they just care about each other. What a special moment. I think that's something that Geno and Nikita will cherish for the rest of their lives."
The team returned to practice this morning after a day off on Monday, and that night was still on people's minds, with Sullivan talking to Malkin about how wonderful that moment was.
"He said to me that Nikita kept the sheet that has the starting lineup, all their names on it, and they're going to have it framed and put on his wall in his bedroom, which I think is pretty cool," Sullivan said.
Typically, video coach Madison Nikkel, hockey operations analyst/pro personnel Andy Saucier, goalie coach Andy Chiodo and newly-promoted assistant coach Ty Hennes have a rotation where one of them chooses a player to read the starting lineup. That player will do it until the team loses a game. Then another member of the staff will pick a new player, and they'll just keep rotating from there.
And since the team got a big 5-3 victory that night, Rickard Rakell feels like the job should be Nikita's moving forward into Wednesday's game against Calgary, where the Penguins will
honor the milestone
with a ceremony, a special video and congratulatory messages from current and past teammates.
"Since we won, Nikita is going to have to come in and do it again," Rakell said. "I would have been so nervous. I get nervous, too, when I get to do it. He did an awesome job."
