Rookie Malone makes Pens take notice

The son of a former NHL forward has given the team's scouts a reprieve.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Top draft pick Marc-Andre Fleury isn't the only rookie who's forcing the Pittsburgh Penguins to create playing time for him.
Ryan Malone, the son of former NHL forward Greg Malone, goes into tonight's game against Philadelphia tied for fourth among NHL rookies with five goals -- two of them overtime winners. He also has a short-handed goal, and his nine points tie him with Aleksey Morozov, fellow rookie Konstantin Koltsov and the injured Mario Lemieux for the third most on the team.
Jump
Malone jumped directly from St. Cloud State's lineup a year ago into Pittsburgh's, with only three minor league games along the way, and there's nothing to suggest he's in danger of being demoted to the minors.
"After seeing him in training camp and watching him progress, our expectation level was really high for him," Penguins coach Eddie Olczyk said. "He had some tough times at the beginning of the year and there were some games where he was in-between, but he stayed with it."
Malone was honored Saturday before the Penguins' 2-1 overtime victory over Ottawa for being the first Pittsburgh-grown player to make it to the NHL. He finished off the night by beating goalie Patrick Lalime at 2:40 of overtime to give the Penguins only their fifth victory in 19 games.
"I think I was more nervous with the awards ceremony than I was on opening night," Malone said.
Malone is displaying a flair for the dramatic, a concept copied from the sport's top players. He is the only NHL player with multiple overtime goals this season.
Malone has spent most of the season on what has become the Penguins' top-scoring line with Morozov and Rico Fata, who has seven goals and 11 points.
Opinion of teammates
"We're all young guys and we do everything we can to help each other," Morozov said. "Ryan's just a good player. You can see in the way he works hard in every practice and in games that he can play in this league."
Malone's strong debut has alleviated some of the pressure on the Penguins' scouting department for what had been a long stretch of unproductive drafts. That's a comfort to Malone, since father Greg is the team's chief scout.
Greg Malone had 143 goals and 364 points in 495 Penguins games over eight seasons from 1976-83.