Pittsburgh Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin dressed for his 1,200th NHL game on Friday night at T-Mobile Arena as the Penguins took on the Vegas Golden Knights.
With his milestone, Malkin becomes only the second player in Penguins history to reach the plateau behind Sidney Crosby, who skated in his 1,335th game on Friday.
Regarding his place in NHL history, Malkin is now the 134th skater to reach 1,200 games, tying Owen Nolan and one game behind Keith Tkachuk.
Meanwhile, Malkin is now only the fifth Russian-born skater to achieve the feat, behind Alex Ovechkin (1,473)*, Alex Kovalev (1,316), Sergei Gonchar (1,301), and Sergei Federov (1,248). Ovechkin, Malkin, and Dmitry Kulikov are the only active Russian skaters with over 1,000 NHL games.
Although Malkin was not on the scoresheet in his 1,200th game, he ranks second among Russian scorers all-time with 510 goals and 1,337 points, chasing only Ovechkin in each category. However, he is the country’s all-time assist leader with 827.
The three-time Stanley Cup champion and former Hart Trophy winner ranks third in Penguins history in every statistical category behind Crosby and Mario Lemieux.
