Evgeni Malkin will play his 6th NHL game tonight in LA. Malkin's current performance with 5 goals and 4 assists puts him on a track of more than 140 points for his first season in NHL which is much more than Alex Ovechkin's 106 points last season. Ovechkin's points were enough to secure him Calder Trophy in a tough competition with Penguins' center Sidney Crosby, who's playing now as Malkin's linemate and can ironically help another Russian to receive one of the most prestigious NHL trophies. Or course, Ovechkin secured the trophy not only by the pure stats but also by his leadership and spectacular goals, such as now famous goal against Phoenix Coyotes in 2005-2006 season when Ovechkin scored while sliding across the ice on his back - check it here:

Two Malkin's goals convince me that he has the potential to produce the Ovechkin-like goals. First, Evgeni's goal on the World Junior Championship in the game against Kazakhstan - check it below and you'll see that you gotta be a special player to hit a flying puck while still falling down yourself.

Second, Malkin's goal against Devils that even Martin Brodeur called "Pretty Amazing":

Not to say that Penguines looks like an amazing team this season with good chances to go to play offs, plus having such a linemate as Crosby - that should help Evgeni to replicate Ovechkin's success.

Whether Malkin gets Calder Trophy is impossible to predict at this stage of the season, but tonight he has a good chance to make history - if Evgeni scores in his 6th consequitive game he'll be the first palyer to do so since Joe Malone, Newsy Lalonde and Cy Denneny did that 89 years ago!