Evgeni Malkin dropped one of the quotes of the year about Phil Kessel

BarDown Staff

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Pittsburgh Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin has established himself as an early favourite to win the Hart Trophy and acknowledges that one teammate in particular has contributed to his success.

The Russian has notched 9 goals along with 13 asssits while playing alongside everyone’s favourite personality Phil Kessel, who’s picked up an impressive seven goals and seven assists of his own while playing with the Russian this season. Malkin was recently asked about his own play and instantly gave Kessel full credit, however, he made sure to toss in a little chirp on his buddy in the process. These two really have one of the funnier friendships in sports.

Malkin says his good play is all about Phil. Gives him full credit. But...”When he’s lazy, I can’t do myself. He’s flying right now.”
Quote of the year candidate, I would say.
— Josh Yohe (@JoshYohe_PGH) October 28, 2018

Just had to make a comment about the guy being lazy, didn’t ya Geno!

At times, Kessel has played like one of the best forwards in the league but his effort has been put into question at numerous points of his career (especially in Toronto). Still, the 31-year-old has been dominant in his time with Pittsburgh so Malkin’s comments should obviously be taken lightly.

.@UpperDeckSports made Phil Kessel’s incredible day with the cup into an official hockey card. . (Via: Twitter/RJ Kowalski)

A post shared by TSN (@tsn_official) on Feb 14, 2018 at 3:41pm PST

Through nine games, Malkin and Kessel have combined for an absurd 32 points. When these two are flying together, the Penguins are unquestionably one of the NHL’s biggest threats to make a run in June.

(H/T Josh Yohe)