Evgeni Malkin publicly calls out Phil Kessel (again) prior to pivotal game 5.

It’s no secret that Pittsburgh Penguins sniper Phil Kessel is suffering through a goal scoring slump. The 29 year-old winger hasn’t put the puck in the net since the Eastern Conference Finals and has struggled to produce offensive chances against the Nashville Predators defence corps of PK Subban, Mattias Ekholm, Roman Josi and Ryan Ellis so far in the Stanley Cup Final.

Despite his slump, Kessel’s teammate Evgeni Malkin is predicting a big goal from Kessel in game 5 tomorrow.

Malkin is a notoriously tough individual to read. Is this a joke? Is this merely motivation for Phil? A confidence booster? A “get your butt in gear” proclamation? With Malkin, you never know for sure.

One thing’s for sure however, and that’s that the Penguins will have to be better in game 5 if they expect a better fate than they received in games 3 and 4. The Predators forecheck overwhelmed the Penguins undermanned defence corps and made them pay dearly for their mistakes in Nashville. With the series heading back to Pittsburgh, the best chance for Kessel to bump the slump may come on the power play. Playing alongside Malkin and Sidney Crosby on the PP should produce a scoring chance or two, it’s just a matter of whether or not Kessel can finally capitalize. Malkin, for what it’s worth, seems to think it’s a foregone conclusion.