WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- "Good job. I respect you."
Those were Blake Wheeler's five words for Evgeni Malkin after those two fought on their first shift of the Penguins' 7-4 body slam of the big, bad Jets on this Wednesday night at MTS Centre. And Winnipeg's captain couldn't have conceived in that moment how prophetic they'd be.
Because minutes later, Malkin would break loose for a one-on-one blocker-buster by Connor Hellebuyck:
Then feed Justin Schultz for a five-on-three blast to complete the Gordie Howe hat trick:
Then, as if to run up the tab, he'd bury another himself.
So, respect?
"What Geno did out there, the way he led the way for us ... yeah, there's a lot of respect in here for that," Ian Cole would tell me in the visitors' locker room, motioning toward Malkin across the way. "That's hockey, man. That's just hockey."
Old-time, too. And Howe. On a night that pretty much demanded it.
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