SUNRISE, Fla. -- Penguins center Evgeni Malkin has slipped back into that mode again -- a monster on the ice but ghost-like off it.

Malkin is working on a 10-game point streak -- 5 goals, 9 assists for 14 points in that span -- going into the finale of a five-game road trip tomorrow at Washington. The Penguins are 7-2-1 in those 10 games.

He is one of two players who has appeared in all 66 games for the Penguins this season -- center Jordan Staal is the other -- and leads the NHL with 94 points on 29 goals, 65 assists, making him an MVP candidate.

In all likelihood, the third-year NHL player will eclipse the 100-point mark in the next week or so and likely at home, considering nine of the Penguins' next 11 games are at Mellon Arena. It would be his second season in a row in triple digits after finishing second overall in league scoring to Washington's Alex Ovechkin a year ago with 106.

Despite a growing command of English and something of a coming-out party during the All-Star weekend in January in Montreal, the Russian-born player remains reluctant to talk about himself.

Malkin agreed this week to answer a quick question about the looming 100-point mark.

"I try because it's good for me, good for [the] team," he said. "I play with good guys."

Asked if reaching 100 points a season or leading the NHL was an aim of his before he got to the league, he playfully barked, "One question!"

Then he said, "I'm not thinking about 100 points or trophies."

The Penguins have won five games in a row and tomorrow will be trying to match their longest winning streak of the season.

They won their first six games of November, four of them by one goal. Between that streak and this one, they were 18-22-4 and did not win more than two in a row.

Not to get carried away, but with 16 games remaining in the regular season, they have time to match or beat the NHL-record 17-game winning streak set by the 1992-93 Penguins.

The Penguins had a day off in South Florida yesterday. They are scheduled to fly to and practice in Washington today. By the time they get home tomorrow night, they will have spent 10 nights on the road. That's longer than their trip to Sweden to open the season. ... In a series of charity drives, the Penguins will collect non-perishable food and cash for the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank at their home game Tuesday against Florida, children's books and cash for Carnegie Library branches March 20 against Los Angeles, and clothing or cash for Goodwill March 28 against the New York Rangers.