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Malone Returns As A Visitor

Tribune photo by JASON BEHNKEN

Malone understands he's a major piece of the rebuilding process for the Lightning.

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By ERIK ERLENDSSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 23, 2008

PITTSBURGH - Few professional athletes enjoy the Ryan Malone experience - born, raised and play in your hometown.

For the first four seasons of his NHL career, Malone played hockey on the same ice he watched his hometown Penguins win back-to-back Stanley Cups on. He walked the hallways he roamed as a child when father Greg played for the Penguins, and later served as a scout.

Last year, Malone came within two victories of completing the hometown hat trick as the Penguins lost to Detroit in six games during the Stanley Cup finals.

Six months later, Malone returns tonight to Mellon Arena for the first time like a stranger in his old house to face off against Pittsburgh as a member of the last-place Lightning.

"I've been coming to this rink since I was a little kid and it's weird," Malone said following practice Monday. "I never really changed over in the visitors locker room before. So I'm looking forward to this, it's going to be fun."

When Malone signed a six-year deal with Tampa Bay many believed he was going from an elite team to one primed for a quick turnaround. Now he understands he's a major piece of the rebuilding process.

"Right now in Tampa it's probably easy to say you made the wrong move," said Malone, who has seven goals and 13 points in 23 games. "But you have to start somewhere and it's my turn, I guess. The same thing happened in Pittsburgh early in my career where we were kind of rebuilding, at the bottom of the barrel and we developed a young team and grew together through the years and that is what we are going to have to do in Tampa, just be patient and try to turn this thing around slowly."

Should fortunes turn around, Malone will be a big part of that as a leader in the locker room and with his hard-nosed play on the ice, traits he has quickly shown despite being sidelined on two occasions this season.

"When he's not in the lineup, you can tell our team doesn't have that extra pop," goaltender Mike Smith said. "He's a key to this team, a big part of the way we need to win and everybody should look at the way he plays."

Reporter Erik Erlendsson can be reached at (813) 259-7835.

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